Akari's story
by SoulTorment
Summary: It's the Narutoverse like you've never seen it before.
1. Gaining a new team

**A.n: **Okay, it's me Mangacookie and you've probably come over here from my DA account in which case you are interested in learning about Akari's (my OC'S) story. First off, thanks for dropping by i appreciate you giving this story a go. Secondly, i am in no way a professional writer. In fact Akari's story is the first long piece i have ever attempted to write so if anyone want's to give me some tips feel free to do so ;). I hope you will stay with me as i upload more chapters and i also hope you enjoy the pictures i will be submitting on DA. Each picture will probably be a scene or have something to do with this fanfiction so you can relate to it. I am now going to ask you to be patient with me. This story does follow the original Naruto timeline but it is obviously different from the anime. In places where XXX's are placed it's because there has either been a jump in time or a jump to another scenery. I tried to remain loyal to the characters as they are in the series and therefore you may find some of them to be annoying or lacking in personalities that they may have developed throughout the series so bare with me i promise they will progress into the characters you now know them to be. Withought further ado i leave you this story.**  
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**~Gaining a new team ~**

It was as normal as any other day in Konoha. The sun was shining brightly in the early afternoon sky and the citizens were going about their daily lives. One noticeable difference was the lack of students that surrounded the Academy at this hour. Today was the day that all the twelve year olds graduated and got assigned to their respective Jounin captains to begin their career as shinobi of the leaf. Regardless of the amount that made it through the Academy only nine candidates would make it to Genin. The rest would be sent back to the Academy for another six months before they could try graduating again. Strolling down the street lazily was a 14 year old Genin looking for her guardian/sensei. Sighing, she scanned the building for the chakra signature she was looking for only to quickly give up. Why did he always make it hard to be found when he was needed? She needed to hand in her mission scroll before reporting back to the Hokage and he was making it difficult. Jumping to the rooftops a barely audible frustrated sound escaped her lips. If he was with his new team there was only one more place she could think of where he would be. Sending chakra to her feet she sped up making her way over the sunlit village, her brow furrowed in concentration as she remembered the events that had transpired not so long ago.

_The unmistakable sound of a key turning in the lock could be heard from down the hallway as she entered her apartment located in the Jounin complex. Sighing she shut the door behind her and started kicking of her shinobi sandals._

"_Tadaima" she said making her way across the wooden floor of the hallway unconsciously hunting down the chakra signature of her roommate. By the time she had reached the living room she had registered that said roommate was actually absent at the moment. Turning her head to look over the back of the sofa she assessed the small brown pug that was sleeping on it. He most probably knew she was there but that didn't stop her from rousing him._

"_Ne Pakkun? Where's Kakashi?" She said prodding his side._

"_Said something about meeting his new team at 10" grumbled the little dog while kicking away the disturbing finger with his back leg not once opening his eyes. _

"_Hmm I see" she responded offhandedly while glancing at the clock on the wall that hung over the living room television. Quarter to twelve it read. Knowing Kakashi he was probably only arriving at the Academy now, but what if he lingered around town the rest of the afternoon? She had a scroll to give in and needed his signature on it before handing it over to the Third Hokage and she really wanted to go out and have the rest of the day to herself._

"_Typical" she commented as she made her way back to the door slipping on her sandals and walking out as she placed her keys in her back pouch. _

She smirked as she sighted the mass of silver hair she was looking for. She could just hear him asking the three freshly graduated kids in front of him to introduce themselves to him before she jumped on to the electricity pole that stood behind the railing he was currently sitting on. He turned his head in her direction assessing her after noticing the startled expressions on the three Genin's faces at seeing her appear suddenly.

"You purposefully make yourself hard to find don't you?" she questioned him with an apathetic expression while rummaging in her back pouch and retrieving a scroll before tossing it his way. He caught it with ease giving her his inverted U eye crinkled smile.

"I was wondering when you were going to turn up and start lecturing me."

"I'm not lecturing you Kakashi" she smiled while letting her gaze slide lightly over the three pre- teens sitting on the step in front of her before glancing back at her Sensei, "I'm merely expressing my frustration on the matter of you being hard to track down when I want to find you. I need you to sign that before I can hand it to the Hokage"

"All went well I presume" he said while glancing down at the now open scroll in front of him.

"Kakashi it was a simple C-rank mission of information exchange in a neighboring town, of course it went well, now can you please sign the form so I can be on my way?" she almost whined.

"Humor me why don't you and meet my new team" He said while smiling cheekily.

"You'll sign it if I do?" she sighed already resigning to sitting down on the railing next to him arms crossed and with her eyes closed as if to keep her impatience locked inside her. He nodded while he turned back to the three would be Genin in front of him.

"Now as I was saying why don't you introduce yourselves?" He said bluntly, half droopy look back in place. To people who didn't know him they would say he walked around half a sleep most of the time.

"Ne ne Kakashi-sensei" blurted out the blond and smallest out of his companions "Who is she?" he stated while pointing a finger at the girl next to his Sensei.

His female companion blushed and berated him "Naruto don't point it's rude what if she's another teacher?" It made sense in her mind; after all they did seem to be quite friendly with one another although she did look a bit young to be a teacher. What was she a year, maybe two older than herself?

"But it's only fair we get to know who she is if she's going to know who we are" protested the boy with his eyes clamped shut. With the whisker marks on his face one would assimilate him to a cat or a fox of some sort. The girl who was still currently under the attack of the blond boys finger as if it was on lock on target chuckled. This kid had a sense of humor and he was obviously a troublemaker.

"Your right it is only fair I introduce myself as well" she said smiling while turning her attention to the teacher next to her "What do you want us to say?"

"I dunno, your like's and dislike's, your dreams and ambitions I suppose" he replied shrugging his shoulders looking thoroughly bored with the world. 'Typical Kakashi' she thought while sweat dropping.

"Hmm well let's see, first off my name is Seishin Akari, nearly fifteen years old" she stated naturally " I like reading and going out to enjoy Konoha's hot springs after missions. Hmm my dreams? I suppose I haven't really thought of that but my ambition is to become a top elite Jounin someday" she finished proudly clenching her fists together and grinning. She observed the three Genin in front of her curiously. The tallest out of the three was a brooding looking dark haired boy. He held his hands lightly interlaced at the fingers in front of him and like Kakashi he seemed uninterested in what was going on but in a different way. He almost looked as if he was locked up in his own world of torment. The blond guy beside him who went by the name of Naruto looked interested and excited. Too excited maybe? It was obvious he was the fidgety hyperactive type. Maybe graduating from the Academy was a really big step for him. 'Too bad you got Kakashi' she thought as her glance trailed over to the only female member on the team. She was receptive and willing to learn that much was obvious however the furtive glances she gave the dark haired boy every so often hadn't gone unnoticed by the more experienced kunoichi. 'So we got one hyperactive kid, one gloomy looking guy and a love stricken girl. They make up quite a trio' she thought.

"Elite Jounin?" questioned the pink haired girl tearing her eyes away from her dark haired teammate. "Aren't all Jounin just the same?"

"Not quite," responded Kakashi "Elite Jounin are the crem de la crem so to speak. Then there are normal Jounin or Chunnin that have only just ascended in rank. And last of all are the Tokubetsu Jounin. Those Jounin are ninja that have reached Jounin level but specialize in a certain field like interrogation, torture, examiners etc. etc."

"Eeeh you know your stuff Kakashi-sensei" smirked the blond haired boy "So what type of Jounin are you?

"Me? I'm an Elite" he responded matter or factly switching back to his unfazed by his surroundings look. He regarded the three kids sitting on the step for a while before continuing "So now it's your turn to introduce yourselves".

"Wait Sensei what about you? Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" the pink haired girl asked and to which her blond haired teammate proceeded to agree with by nodding his head determinedly.

And so for the next quarter of an hour the rest of the team introduced themselves. The hyperactive blond was Uzumaki Naruto whose dream was to become Hokage. The girl who was in love with her dark haired teammate was Haruno Sakura and the guy who stole her heart was Uchiha Sasuke whose ambition was to "revive his clan and to kill a certain man". On the whole they were interesting and each had their individual personalities and dreams for the future.

"Alright tomorrow we will be doing a mission together. We will be doing survival training" Kakashi explained. At the questioning looks his team gave him he laughed and went on to explaining that the final test at the Academy was to pick out those candidates who were capable of becoming Genin but that only nine would actually pass. In other words it was a test with a 66,6% of failure. The shocked look on the three pre-teens was nothing short of comical and Akari found herself vaguely remembering her first experience when she had finally been placed on a team at the age of nine. Her two teammates had hated her at first always envying the fact that she had graduated earlier than them and underestimating her greatly, claiming she would just get in their way. That was until they had learned to become a proper team and strengthen each other's weaknesses. And then a year later during the Chunnin exams… 'no it's no good thinking about it' she thought to herself while she pinched the bridge of her nose. The memories where painful and not because of the memories themselves but because those years of her life where clouded with fog. Every time she delved into that part of her memory her temples would pulse signaling the start of a headache and all she ended up with was a blank mind. At that instance Kakashi got up and turned around preparing to jump over the railing.

"Oh by the way, don't eat breakfast" he said giving them his trademark eye crinkle smile "you'll throw up." And with that he leaped over the railing and onto the ground below which was filling up with citizens probably rushing to the market place.

The four adolescents regarded each other for a couple of seconds, three of them curiously eying the girl still sitting on the railing. Akari was tall with long lean legs that had been toughened up after intense shinobi training just like the rest of them. Her hair, which was tied up conveniently into to two pigtails at the sides of her head for practicalities sake, was a smooth chocolate brown color and long, not as long as Sakura's whose hair reached mid waist but long nonetheless. Her shinobi attire consisted of under the knee stockings cut at the toes with the typical shinobi black sandals. They were a pearly color, too pink to be considered white but too pale to be considered pink. She was clad in a pair of black shorts and because of the lack of trousers her kunai holster was placed in a violet colored pouch which was attached to her thigh like a garter and held in place by a sash that made its way round her waist. Her Konoha headband had been conveniently sewn onto the sash. To complete the picture she donned the typical mesh undershirt used for extra protection except hers was exposed seeing as on top of it she wore a sleeveless rich sea blue colored shirt that stopped under her chest area. However the most striking thing about her by far was her eyes. They were deep blue with a dark purple hue on the borders. All in all, she appeared to be refined, calm and serious with a touch of cuteness.

Akari got up and stretched lazily feeling her back bones pop a few time before smiling and getting prepared to follow Kakashi.

"Wait!" Sakura said while getting up "Why did you have to introduce yourself to us today?"

"Oh that, you see if you do pass Kakashi's test then I'll be placed on your team" she responded one foot and hand already on the railing.

"B-but why? We're already a three man cell why would there be a fourth member?" she inquired. 'Shannaro I don't want another girl on this team. She'll probably want to steal Sasuke-kun away from me'

"If you do pass I'll explain why" she responded humorously "But don't fret Sakura, it's not like I'm gonna steal Sasuke from you ne?" And with that and a final smile she leapt over the railing and started sprinting to catch up with her Sensei leaving a shocked faced Sakura, an inquisitive looking Naruto and a serene Sasuke to themselves. 'Did she just read my mind?' thought Sakura sweat trickling down the side of her face.

"Well I'm gonna go and get some Ramen, Sakura-chan do you wanna come?" Naruto asked arms placed behind his head like a pillow and with a heartwarming smile bracing his features.

Snapping out of her thoughts she turned towards him and stuck her nose up in the air "Like hell I'd go with you" she replied before turning on Sasuke with heart filled eyes and a blush crossing her face and saying "Do you wanna go Sasuke-kun?

"I'm going home" he grumbled while getting up and walking away from his two annoying teammates. "You should rest as well you wouldn't want to mess up tomorrow and fail."

"O-of course" she responded smiling sweetly watching him leave.

"Tch who does the git think he is?" mumbled Naruto.

"Don't insult Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed pounding him on the head and walking off with her fists clenched and her nose in the air muttering under her breath about incompetent idiots leaving a very sore Naruto on the floor rubbing the bump on his head.

XxX

Akari reduced her sprint to a walk and strolled alongside her Sensei who had his face hidden by his ever present orange book. She smiled contentedly while gazing at her surroundings. "So what do you think of them?" she asked glancing up at the man walking beside her.

He regarded her question for a few seconds before answering-"What do _you_ think of them?" At this the girl let out a small sound something between a laugh and a sigh.

"Kakashi ever since I was accepted back on the mission roster you've failed five teams. I have about as much hope for this one as I did for the last."

"You sound unhappy" he said letting his lazy eye make its way over to gaze down at her. She had definitely grown since she had been put under his tutelage. He hadn't been pleased at first, about having to share his apartment with her. He had had to clear out his training room and transform it back into a bedroom so she could live with him, but being Kakashi he had made the most of the situation and got away with only paying half of the rent which made living expenses really cheap. She also did the laundry twice a week and _that_, in his opinion was a big bonus. After spending some time around her he also found out that she was an ideal roommate for him. She kept to herself most of the time and never intruded into his personal life. Over the years she had learnt a few things about him but that really couldn't be helped, what with living together and everything, but at least it wasn't because she had prodded or pride at him and he was thankful to her for that. He let his gaze roam over her a moment longer before returning it back to his beloved book. 'Yep, she's definitely grown.'

When he had first met her she was barely thirteen and emotionally unstable. Wrapped up into herself much like Sasuke had been today. Constantly brooding on memories she couldn't even grasp at properly and with a constant scowl set in place. It wasn't until he offered to train her a couple of times a week and got her confidence in herself back, that he had started to see an improvement in her personality. She went out more and met people and started to recover her determination to be someone she wanted to be. Heck she even got along with Genma the neighbor above them and one of his lifelong friends. Now she walked alongside him, her stance laidback but proud and well on her way to womanhood. Her chocolate brown hair gleamed in the sunlight and her blue eyes, almost purple in Kakashi's mind, sparkled with hidden strength and a great will to push through things.

"No of course I'm not unhappy. I'm just not expecting much that's all. I know you wouldn't pass a team just so I could finally go back to doing team missions again. I don't expect you to do it and I'm not asking you to. But I do know the day you decide to pass a team you'll have made the right decision" she finished off smiling brightly up at him. "Oh by the way my mission scroll, did you sign it?" He responded by nodding and fishing out said scroll from one of the many pockets of his Jounin vest his good eye not once leaving the page he was reading. "Thanks, I'll be on my way then, see you tonight" she said while pocketing her ticket to freedom back into her pouch and turning around to make her way to the Hokage tower.

"Don't forget tomorrow 5am I want you there to watch them training" he replied while carrying on walking down the street. As she took to the rooftops she couldn't help but smirk. "11am in your world huh Kakashi?"

XxX

It was nearly eleven o clock and already the sky held the telltale signs of another warm sunny day. Konoha was well known for its lovely whether practically all year through except for maybe during the rainy season in April. As she turned the corner and made her way down the steps to training ground three she could see three figures across the field, all in different positions trying to fight down the lack of sleep and grumpiness that was clear on their faces.

"Morning!" she said cheerfully retrieving one hand from her shorts pocket to wave before placing it back into the warm material.

"Where the hell have you been you're just as late as Kakashi-sensei is?" said Sakura irritably. Akari just chuckled.

"No I believe I've arrived at a decent time" she said while sitting down on the grass next to Naruto. The boy in question looked at her before blurting out-"So say how come you know Kakashi-sensei?"

"What do you mean how do I know him? He's my Sensei of course" she responded skeptically as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But then why is he being offered a Genin team if he's already got _you_?" Akari sighed. Hadn't she agreed to tell them why she was joining up with their team _if_ they passed? She regarded the short boy next to her. It was obvious from his expression she wasn't going to get away without answering.

"I need a team to be able to go on team missions. A three man cell is normally the most common number for a shinobi team but it is not the norm. Some missions require more members and others require less like two man teams or just one shinobi if there are solo missions. Didn't you learn that at the Academy? She asked irritably although she didn't receive an answer seeing as at that instance a greeting from behind them had Naruto and Sakura whipping around and shouting out-"YOU'RE LATE!"

It was Kakashi of course who else could it be, scratching the back of his head sheepishly and proceeding to give out a lame excuse as to why he was late. After the rules where explained Akari sat down with her back against one of the three cut down tree trunks sticking out of the ground and looked up at the alarm clock. Quarter past eleven. That gave them exactly 45 minutes to retrieve the bells from their sensei. 'So let's see how the three of you fair against Kakashi. Will you be able to see underneath the underneath or will you lose this test to each of your own selfish reasons?'

"Fight me fair and square!" Naruto bellowed across the field. Akari's face fell and her mouth pressed into a grim line.

'This is gonna be a long 45 minutes.'

XxX

An hour later the three young Genin were sitting in front of the very same trunks Akari had been sitting against while she watched them fight for the bells. Well to be more precise two sat, the other was currently tied up to the middle trunk.

"Do you really have no idea why ninjas are placed in three man cells?" Kakashi asked anger evident in his voice as he regarded them from his standing position with his arms crossed.

"That's why we asked you already, just spit it out" Naruto shouted fighting against the ropes that tide him down.

"Teamwork" was the answer they got. It was funny really. Every team Kakashi ever had placed under his tutelage for the survival training never failed to receive the same shocked facial expression the three wannabe Genin had on their own faces right now. All it took was that one simple word- teamwork. The answer was so damn obvious most people failed to see it.

"I'll give you one more go, those of you who are willing to try can eat lunch first" he said while walking away, " but don't give any to Naruto it's his punishment for trying to eat the food on his own". He turned around and looked at the three of them sternly. "Understood? I make the rules here." And with that he disappeared in a puff of white smoke. Regardless he wouldn't be far away. He never was. Akari silently observed her companions for the day as they ate. She didn't miss the furtive glances Sakura was giving her out of the corner of her eye and the nervous shifting she was making.

'Maybe we can get her to help us get through this test or at least give us some clues about Kakashi-Sensei's weak points. The question is how to bring up a conversation with her. She's a weird type of person, or mysterious to be more precise.' Sakura shifted her gaze down to her bento box for a while before turning it back towards the brown haired girl that was causing her discomfort only to look straight into the deep pools of dark blue that where staring right back. 'Those eyes, it's almost as if they can see right through me, as if nothing can escape their gaze.' She looked back down at the food in front of her. 'What am I doing I'm supposed to figure out a way to get her to tell us about Kakashi-Sensei's weaknesses. Unless…I suppose I could offer her some food, she isn't eating with us and it's a good conversation opener, but will she see through my real intentions? I'll have to tread carefully'

"No thank you" came the curt reply. The two males looked at Akari as if she'd grown a second head for speaking up so suddenly and even more for speaking up and not making any sense. Sakura however was looking at her shocked, her chopsticks slipping through her fingers slightly.

"W-what?" she asked back not daring to think this was possible. This was the second time in roughly 24 hours she thought Akari could read her mind.

"I don't want any food" she replied to the bubble gum pink haired girl sweetly. "I had a late breakfast and I haven't been up since 5am like you three have so I don't really need to eat anything just yet."

'This can't possibly be true' her mind screamed. The boys were just staring at the conversation taking place not understanding what was going on. "H-how can you…?" Sakura stammered her voice just above a whisper.

"Huh? Oh how did I know? I'm good at interpreting body language. It kind of becomes a sixth sense once you've been in this profession for a while" she explained to her smiling "The way you kept fidgeting…" She never managed to finish the sentence as a loud rumble had three of them turning their heads to look at Naruto.

"I'm fine really don't worry I'm perfectly…" Rumble~~ "…fine." Akari just looked at him with pity while smiling to herself. 'Poor guy, what with no breakfast and having his teammates eat in front of him. It happens every time and every time they all fail to see the…' her trail of thought was cut off as she observed wide eyed as Sasuke offered to share his food with his tied up teammate. 'He can't be possibly thinking about…?'

"Aaa Sasuke-Kun Sensei said not to feed him" said Sakura glancing around furtively for any signs of their teacher making his way back towards them.

"It's alright; I can tell he isn't nearby. Just as long as…" he trailed of glaring at Akari as if daring her to protest.

"I won't tell. I'm only here to get to know you better and check out your fighting skills so really it's none of my concern if you feed him or not" she said still not daring to believe what was happening. Out of all the teams Kakashi had ever submitted to this test along-side herself, this was the first to ever have the courage to feed their starving teammate. Giving Naruto a couple of bites out of their bento's was all it took before a gush of wind wailed loudly around them sending leaves flying in all directions and surprising the three young ninja as Kakashi appeared glaring down at them.

"YOU GUYS! Any last words?" he said making his way towards them slowly while performing a few hand seals.

"B-b-but Sensei you said…t-teamwork, that's why they…" started Naruto quivering against the ropes binding him.

"We're a three man cell and we'll fight together!" proclaimed Sasuke

"Exactly, the three of us are one!" said Sakura getting to her feet.

'These guys', thought Akari while she observed the determination in their eyes. 'These guys really did understand… they were able to overcome their own desires and stick together as a team.'

"Oh? So you three are one?" Kakashi regarded them for a moment before replacing his stern look for a genuine smile. "You all pass." To say they were surprised was an understatement. They all looked at Kakashi in awe not daring to believe what they had just been told. "A ninja must be able to see underneath the underneath, all the other students I ever got were idiots who only did what I told them to do. You see in the ninja world those who disobey the rules are trash, but you know what? Those who abandon their comrades are even worse than trash."

Akari smiled. She had heard it all before naturally but hearing Kakashi say those words never failed to send ripples of admiration and excitement through her body.  
>"From now on the five of us are a team, and as from tomorrow Team 7 will be going on missions together" he told them giving them a thumbs up before starting to walk off with three of his students, all with different degrees of happiness on their faces, in tail. The other was left shouting at them still tide to the tree trunk.<p>

XxX

The sound of keys in the lock made his presence in the house known. He took off his ninja sandals and made his way into the living room to find his companion sitting on the sofa, her legs curled up by her side, reading a book.

"I bought take away." He said holding up the plastic bag to emphasize his point. Akari kept her eyes on the page finishing off the line she was on before dog earing the slightly yellowing paper and standing up. Silently she made her way to the kitchen, Kakashi following behind and proceeded to place plates and chopsticks on the table.

"You never answered my question before" she said while pulling out two glasses from a cupboard.

"About what?"

She was silent for a moment as she placed the take away boxes on the table and started layering the plates with food. "What do you think of them?" she finished off while sitting down.

"They're interesting enough" he stated flatly. "Why, disappointed already?"

Akari merely chucked. "I told you when you passed a team you would make the right decision, I'm not questioning your judgment on the matter."  
>They sat in comfortable silence for a while eating and drinking comfortably. "However" she continued sceptically when she noticed Kakashi's plate was already empty " I can't seem to get it out of my mind that I know those two boys from somewhere I just can't put my finger on where."<p>

"What do you know?" Kakashi asked making sure his voice sounded even and uninterested.

"Naruto, I've seen him around town a couple of times normally causing trouble but it's the way the villagers look at him that's weird, as if they all hated him on a personal level you know?"Kakashi hummed in agreement not keen to openly participate in the subject.

"I've also heard a couple of people say he's that monster" she stated looking at her companion puzzled. Kakashi tried to still his thoughts but was a couple of seconds too late. "No way!" she said staring at him in disbelief.

"I wish you wouldn't do that" he said eyeing her with his good eye sternly.

"I couldn't help it you practically shouted it out to me, even if I do block myself out of your head you know I can't help it sometimes" she said her eyes bugging out still shocked. "It's your fault you can't control what you think anyway. Just be glad I have enough control to stay out of your mind most of the time." She finished off shuddering at the thought of hearing his mind process the words of his favourite orange clad book. The silence that accompanied her statement made the air around them feel thick making it hard to breath. They just stared at each other and when Kakashi thought he couldn't take it any longer and it was time to retreat into his bedroom Akari spoke up again. "Is he really the Kyuubi container?" she whispered as if afraid that just by voicing her thoughts something terrible would happen.  
>Kakashi assessed the girl sitting opposite him for a couple of minutes before answering.<p>

"Yes he is. The Third Hokage ordered nobody tell him and no one is to know. Only those who survived the Kyuubi's attack on the village twelve years ago know and they blame him for what happened. When people don't understand something they tend to be afraid of the situation and like in this case fear leads to hate. They hate Naruto for being the Kyuubi container but they also fear him because deep down they believe him to be the Kyuubi himself."

Akari gripped the table hard. What Kakashi was saying was true but even if she had only met Naruto yesterday she could tell he was many things from hyperactive, loud and a bit annoying but he had a smile that could light up the world and he seemed to have a heart of gold. A far shot from a blood lusting demon.

"So what about Sasuke?" Kakashi asked hoping to change the topic somewhat.

"What about him?"

"You said you had the feeling you knew the boys from somewhere, so now I ask you, what about Sasuke?

Akari let the question roam around her head for a bit. Where did she know him from? It had been bugging her ever since she had seen him introduce himself yesterday and her interest had only risen once she heard what his goal in life was. But alas as much as she thought it through, she couldn't come up with an answer. Heck she was positive she hadn't even seen him until yesterday afternoon.

"I think it's not a question of knowing him. It's more the name. Uchiha, I know I've heard it somewhere." When Kakashi gave a barely concealed chuckle she glared at him. "The heck so funny?" He just continued to stare at her with that crooked smile of his, not that she could actually see it what with that stupid mask he wore but she could tell it was there nonetheless. The fact that he was staring at her with both mismatched eyes helped a lot she supposed. And then the answer hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Oh!"

"Oh indeed" he said getting up and piling the dishes in the sink before sitting back down and helping himself to another refill of iced tea.  
>Akari laughed dryly at her stupidity. She'd had the answer staring her right in the face all along. Literally.<p>

"Well, all in all I think they make up a great team and I'm looking forward to training with them" she said sincerely and without further ado she picked up her glass and rose it in the air getting ready to toast, "To a new team"

Kakashi rose his own glass and clinked it with hers "To a new team."

**A.n: **There you have chapter 1, hope you enjoyed it and i appreciate reviews, comments and any tips you may have to help my improve my written work.


	2. Training distress, Tazuna's request

**A.n: **Okay here you have chapter 2 :3 Akari really doesn't get much action until the Chunnin exam arc and the only reason I didn't completely ditch this arc is because I want to introduce mu character slowly. Akari isn't the kind of character that develops much strength throughout the first half of the story because 1.- she is a character that progresses emotionally and 2.- she is stronger than her teammates at the beginning because she has more experience, but fear not, by the time the Chunnin exams arrive Naruto and Sasuke have already caught up to her in strength. Just some team bondin, teasing and learning some of Akari's past in this chapter. Hope you enjoy ;).

**~Training distress, Tazuna's request~**

The crisp early morning air stung her lungs slightly as she breathed evenly while skimming through the trees to her destination. Akari had always been fond of early mornings. There was just something about the smell of dew on the ground and on the trees that was highly relaxing as well as invigorating. She wasn't worried about arriving late, after all the Jounin residence she lived in was located fairly close to the training grounds for the convenience of the high rank shinobi. The reason she was running was because she had felt like going on a quick jog before meeting up with her teammates at their usual meeting point and running through the dense canopy of forest area that surrounded the training grounds had seemed like a good enough warm up to her.

Without breaking a sweat she jumped out of the dense area of foliage, skimmed through training ground eight before proceeding to jump over the fence and make her way up the steps towards the bridge her teammates should be waiting at. From this distance she could distinguish two lone figures, one of them with hard to miss pink hair and the other dark, gloomy and composed. She made her way over to them greeting them cheerfully. The response she received was a somewhat grumbled 'good morning' and a grunt but that was by no means unexpected. After one week of being a team, Akari could safely say she knew the ins and outs of Team 7. Naruto was loud, noisy, and cheerful and had a crush on Sakura. Sakura had a crush on Sasuke and was really the only person who could keep her blond companion in line, even if her means where somewhat unorthodox. Sasuke was asexual and walked around as if he had a stick up his ass and their sensei, Kakashi as usual, was late.

"Naruto, not arrived?" Akari asked deciding to break the ice even if it was by asking a meaningless and practically rhetorical question. Had the blond been there all of them would definitely know, he wasn't exactly what you would call quiet and subtle.

Sasuke bit back a snide retort and settled for his usual cold glare. He wasn't too fond of the added member to their team. Then again he wasn't too fond of anybody. She was still some sort of a mystery to all of them and when Naruto had prodded and questioned her she had always managed to either change the subject or give him blunt meaningless answers.

A cheerful 'Good morning' had the three teammates turning their heads around to assess the hyperactive teen that was running towards them.

"Sorry I'm late, I kind of slept in" Naruto said sheepishly while grinning.

"Don't matter dobe Kakashi is late as usual" was the cocky reply he got from his teammate/rival.

"Don't call me that, teme!" Naruto screeched bawling his fists at his companion.

"Enough already you two" interjected Akari before they started insulting each other all out. It was still far too early for that and she desired to keep her good mood up for as long as possible. After half an hour of complete silence even Akari had to admit hearing her teammates bicker was much better than dying of boredom. She sighed and let herself slide down the length of the bridge until she was seated against the hard wood.

"Ne Akari-san" Sakura began looking down at her teammate from her standing position opposite her.

"Hmm?" she said continuing to stare intently at her feet but letting her teammate know she had her attention.

"If you know what time Kakashi-sensei is likely to arrive at why do you even bother coming here and waiting for him with us? I mean you could arrive just before he does and save yourself all this boredom."

Akari looked up at her teammate and then looked over at the other two. Naruto's face was that of keen interest whereas Sasuke had shifted lightly not wanting to give away just how interested he actually was. Turning back to Sakura she replied: "Collective responsibility."

"Huh? Collective responsibility? What's that?" Naruto asked puzzled.

"We're a team aren't we? Teams go through the good and the bad together, that's what makes them stronger" she answered his question smiling. He raised his hand to his chin and thought to himself for a while as if analyzing her words. Once he'd processed what she had said he looked at her.

"You know I've been wondering since the bell test. You arrived fifteen minutes before Kakashi-Sensei did, it's almost as if you knew when to turn up and judging by the answer you gave Sakura-chan you seem to know when he'll turn up at any time. How come you know?"

'Oh? He's more observant than I pegged him for' she looked around at her other two teammates. Both Sakura and Sasuke were trying not to look too interested but they weren't as good as they thought they were. 'No. It's not that he's pieced the information together now. They had this planned between them. Not bad.' She smirked to herself before getting up making sure her features where composed and stretching.

"You know all this sitting around is getting to me. Kakashi isn't probably going to be here for another good couple of hours and I know for a fact training ground eight is empty, any of you up for some sparring?" she asked nonchalantly.

At her words Naruto's face lit up impossibly bright and he ran towards her. "You mean real sparring? As in proper fighting not like the crappy missions we've been getting?"

Akari grinned. It was so easy to distract him. "Yes Naruto real fighting" she assured him. With a quick 'Well what are we waiting for?' he started dashing off to the training ground. Akari gave her two teammates a smug look and then followed her blond friend.

"Damn it she found us out" sighed Sakura. There was no doubt in the kunoichi's mind that their older comrade had summed two and two together, she had after all told them during the bell test that she was good at reading body language. Sasuke gave his usual grunt before making his way to the training ground they were about to occupy followed closely by his would be pink haired stalker.

Once they had reached the training ground Akari flipped the sign over to signal the training ground was currently occupied and shut the fence door behind them. She inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of the grass and the trees. Even though the air was still chilly just by looking up at the sky it was obvious it was going to be another warm day.

Naruto turned around expectantly to face his comrades and clenched his fists in excitement with an impossibly large grin on his features. "So what are we going to do huh?"

Akari regarded his question for a second before answering. "I think we could all brush up on our Taijutsu."

"Hn. That's a little basic don't you think?"

"So? Basic is good, just because it's basic doesn't mean you can neglect it. Besides none of your" she pointed to the three of them "Taijutsu is amazingly good and mine is getting rusty so we might as well start off somewhere."

'Sasuke-kun's Taijutsu isn't good? Is she mad or blind or both?' Sakura thought to herself. 'True Naruto's combat skills are somewhat raw but to lump Sasuke-kun in the same group.'

"Oh? You think you can tell how good we are when you haven't even seen us in action yet?" Sasuke brawled while smirking. 'She doesn't know what she's getting herself into.'

Akari sighed. Why did he have to be so damn difficult? "All I'm saying is the three of you have flaws in your one to one combat skill that's all. Take Naruto for example" she began while looking at him "you jump into a fight head first without regarding the enemies strength and at the same time leaving yourself open for attacks or even worse, getting your attacks used against you. On the other hand you Sasuke are over confident. It's good to have confidence in your own strength but that cocky attitude of yours is going to get you killed one day. And as for Sakura, you completely lack confidence _and _strength. You're not comfortable in your own skin when fighting fearing that you'll make a complete fool of yourself when in fact you could be capable of fighting just as well as Sasuke or Naruto."

They regarded each other in silence for a while going over what had just been said, the cool morning breeze ruffling their hair slightly.

"So what do you think we should do?" inquired the pink haired kunoichi. 'Shannaro if we're sparring I wanna be with Sasuke-kun.'

"I think we should team up in pairs. Sakura and Naruto as team one and Sasuke and myself as team two. This way we can avoid meaningless bickering" she glared at the two boys for a second "and Naruto can learn to cool his head down from Sakura while she can learn to land a proper punch from him and Sasuke can assess my combat style and learn not to underestimate other people. Agreed?"

"Hang on who the hell named you teacher" Sasuke all but growled. Her calm and collected personality was really starting to tick him off. "I propose Sakura and myself and you and Naruto, we still avoid the bickering and we still learn."

Akari smirked. 'Figures he would disagree.' "Fine by me I was merely suggesting the best option but if you're more comfortable teaming up with Sakura I'm not going to complain. C'mon Naruto I'll teach you how to break a defense" she finished off turning towards the blond boy.

Sakura's eyes lit up with little hearts. She couldn't believe her luck, she was teamed up with the boy she was infatuated with and not only that but _he_ had wanted to team up with her. However her smile vanished just as rapidly as it had come. She was no match for Sasuke and she knew he would just find her annoying. 'No' she shook her head to clear her thoughts 'I'll give it my all and then he will recognize me as a talented kunoichi and fall in love with me. I'll show that Ino-pig whose boss.'

Each party took their places on different sides of the training ground sparring in their respective pairs. However after ten minutes of non- stop yelps and bashing Akari turned forcefully towards Sasuke while stopping a punch from her opponent and bellowed across the field.

"Sasuke stop pummeling her and teach her will you."

As usual a simple 'Hn' was all they received as an answer as the accused boy pocketed his kunai and got off of the girl he had had pressed unceremoniously against the grass. At the sight of this a vein popped in Naruto's head.

"Teme! You had better stop treating Sakura-chan like that or I'll come over there and kick your ass" he screeched pointing a warning finger at the Uchiha .

"Hn as if the likes of you could actually do something like that Dobe."

"The hell you say? I'll beat you within an inch of your life."

"Go ahead and try" he said smirking while getting into a fighting stance.

"Argh that's it!" Naruto said clenching his fists and sprinting rapidly aided by his shinobi training towards his irksome teammate. Sasuke smirked coldly and proceeded to sprint towards the blond preparing his fists as he did so. Sakura stared shocked from her position on the ground not having gotten up from the last time she had been beaten down by Sasuke. Just as her two teammates fist where about to collide; Akari appeared in between them hands holding her up in a handstand as she delivered a swift kick to their chests sending them flying backwards and rolling on the ground.

"Honestly what is wrong with you two?" she said standing up right and making her way towards Sakura. Once she reached her she held out her hand to help her up. Sakura stared up at Akari bewildered for a second before taking her hand and proceeding to dust herself off. "Can you really not be around each other for five minutes before attempting to rip each other's throats out?

'How the hell did she get in between us so fast?' Sasuke thought while clutching his chest.

"I think its best we regroup. Sasuke you're with me. Naruto you're with Sakura. Any objections?" Two of her teammates shook their heads while the other glared as usual.

'S-sugoi. She has a natural talent for leading. Maybe it has to do with her being so calm about things all the time it just makes people want to follow her' thought Sakura while unconsciously rubbing a sore spot on her arm. 'I knew I'd just end up looking like a useless idiot. Maybe Akari-san's right and I do lack self-confidence.'

Training was resumed once the groups were switched and they each made individual progress commenting on faults that could be corrected and giving each other advice. Naruto helped Sakura a lot which she _was _grateful for but she couldn't help wishing Sasuke to be in his place. Looking up to the sky Akari sighed when she realized the sun was nearly directly ahead of them. They had lost track of time and even though Kakashi was the one to actually be late she knew if they were the ones to keep him waiting they would be punished. Not looking forward to that she called her friends to a stop.

"Guys it's nearly noon we should make it back to the bridge before Kakashi gets there and thinks we've ditched him."

"We really should ditch him then _maybe_ he'd learn to show up on time" mumbled Naruto placing his arms behind his head and walking along with his teammates towards the exit. Little did the four Genin know a lonely eye had been observing them train all morning.

xXx

Kakashi arrived at the bridge a short while after his team with his usual smile in place and cheap excuses. For a good part of the day Team 7 carried on with the low pay missions they were assigned such as de-weeding an old couple's garden or cleaning out a lake, the latest one being chasing down a runaway cat. It had taken up a good part of the afternoon to corner the crazed feline but they had managed nonetheless, some with more scratches on their faces than others.

Entering the double doors that led to a wide room used to give out D-rank and C-rank missions Akari's eyebrows shot up slightly in surprise as she regarded the Hokage seated behind the long wooden desk talking animatedly to Iruka. 'Light paper work coming in today I guess' she thought to herself. Kakashi walked up to the desk to hand in the mission report while Naruto haphazardly dumped the hamster containing a hissing 'Tora-chan' in front of Iruka.

"Well done" began the aging Hokage as he looked down at a list in front of him "your next assignments will be babysitting, painting a ladies house and repairing the leakage in the academy roof."

The answer he received was a sharp 'No thank you' from Naruto followed on by a string of protests of how he needed something more demanding to test his strength. Akari heard Kakashi sigh beside her and held down a chuckle. She could remember a time years ago when her team had been exactly the same. You had to admit even non Genin could do these kind of missions. Clearing her throat she spoke up interrupting her teammate's profanities.

"Hokage-sama if I may" she began gaining the attention of the room. "I know Team 7 is only a recently formed team but my teammates are talented in their own way and I think with Kakashi-san and myself on the team for backup experience on top of the fact that we _are_ a five man cell team I think we could easily cope with a C-rank mission."

It was obvious she had struck gold; she could practically see the gears turning in the Hokage and in Iruka's heads as they considered the offer. Sasuke turned to her arms crossed over his chest and a grim look about his features.

"You know just because you have two years more experience on the field than us doesn't make you any better."

"Actually I graduated from the Academy when I was eight which gives me roughly five to six years more experience." She was going to carry on about how she had also mentioned the fact that she thought all of them were ready for better missions but was interrupted by a loud chorus of surprised screeches coming from Naruto and Sakura.

"Then why on earth have you waited until now to actually join a team?" Sakura asked truly bewildered. It was the first time she had ever met an undergraduate even though she knew Konoha's history was full of them but from what she had heard you needed to be extremely talented to be one of them. Just who exactly was this girl?

"Oh I've had my own team before, they just kind of… moved on without me" she finished off adverting her eyes from her teammates.

Sasuke stared at her intently not having missed the downcast expression that had flickered momentarily across her face. "You mean they ascended in rank?"

Kakashi observed in silence as the scene unfolded in front of him. Akari had never been one to talk without thinking things through carefully and he could tell she was weighing Sasuke's words. However the flicker of doubt that had flashed behind her eyes had been more than enough to tell him that she still wasn't ready to tell her new teammates more than they needed to know. Deep down, she still blamed herself. He was about to interject to spare her the uncomfortable moment but the Hokage beat him to it.

"Very well, I will allow you to go on a C-rank mission. Complete it successfully and you may be rewarded with more" he said smiling as he chewed on the pipe that was placed carefully between his lips. "Allow me to introduce you to the person who you will escort" he pointed towards the door and all heads turned to see a man around his fifties enter drunkenly.

Once their mission was explained Kakashi accompanied his four students outside. "I hope you have all understood the importance of this mission. Get some rest today and we will set off tomorrow at noon. Understood?" With that said and a final 'Don't be late' he disappeared in his usual cloud of smoke.

"It would do him good to listen to himself. Honestly how does he do that transportation thing anyway?" speculated the blond as they made their way down the long flight of stone steps leading to town.

"You don't know?" Akari asked cheerfully. "It's quite simple actually although there are certain conditions that must be met. There is also a big difference between teleporting with chakra and teleporting without."

"Huh? It's possible to teleport without using chakra?" inquired Sakura honestly puzzled. Chakra was the essence of every living thing how could someone possibly accomplish something without using it? That would simply make them a normal civilian, or in any case a magician.

"Forget about that for now it's too complicated and you don't really need to know about it. Back to using chakra, the technique Kakashi uses is accomplished by seals" she stopped by a tall building that held the means for shinobi post at the very top; the messenger birds. "See this?" She asked while pointing to a small squared piece of paper no bigger than a couple of centimeters long and wide. In the middle of the paper written in small kanji was the word Hyōji (appear). It looked like it had been written in blood. "These seals are littered all around town in useful places to make it easier for shinobi to get from one place to another. All that is needed is for a shinobi to infuse the paper with their chakra, form the seal and place it wherever they deem useful. The fact that it is infused with one's blood and chakra makes that individual the only one able to use that seal. There is actually one in ou-err _my_ apartment" she finished off seemingly fascinated by something caught under her fingernails.

"Wow that's really cool. So then why don't ninja use that as a method of travel all the time?" Naruto beamed not having caught on to the near slip of information his teammate had made. She smiled at him thanking whatever god that was willing to listen for having stopped herself in time. They didn't need to know right now about her living with their Sensei. That information could wait and they may needn't ever know.

"It's more complicated than that. These seals are only used for short travel they can't cover wide distances. For that ninja use these" she trailed off for a second while hunting for something in her back pouch before retrieving a scroll. "These are emergency scrolls and are quite expensive, normally only a team leader, captain or medics have one of these to teleport out of a dangerous situation or to get a heavily wounded person back to the village. Once used they can't be used again and only two people can be teleported with one of these scrolls and even then they can only take you as far as the front road leading out of Konoha."

"I see it makes sense. That's why there are always guards by the gates. If someone were to use one of those scrolls it would be easy to get to them quickly and to spread the word to the hospital" said Sasuke as he stuffed his hands in his pockets walking alongside his companions.

"But why not just make them go directly to the hospital instead of the front gates?" inquired the blond. Sakura spoke up to answer his question.

"That's because Konoha is heavily protected with invisible force fields. Someone teleporting in could end up gravely hurt or in the very least set off all the intrusion alarms."

"Exactly! That's why it's only possible to teleport inside Konoha but not inside to get outside or vice versa" commented Akari beaming at her fellow kunoichi's intelligence. She stopped as they came to many crossroads. From this point onwards they would all go their separate ways. She turned to her teammates and gave them a cheerful wave.

"See you tomorrow then" and without further ado she turned left taking the road that would take her to the outskirts of town. She was in no real hurry to get back home just now, there were other things on her mind and she needed time to think them through, preferably alone.

xXx

Later that afternoon a usually loud blond was seated in one of the many comfortable benches at his favorite food stand slurping down his forth bowl of salty noodle delight a.k.a. Ichiraku Ramen. Finishing off the bowls juicy contents he grinned holding out the bowl in front of him.

"Teuchi-san give me another serving of the same please!"

"You sure have an appetite tonight Naruto" replied the owner while preparing his client another bowl.

"Yeah I got a really important mission tomorrow so I want to be prepared and full of energy" he beamed. A chuckle behind him had him turning around in his seat just in time to see his former academy sensei coming into the food stand smiling affectionately at the blond.

"Naruto I doubt I'll ever see the day in which you don't have any energy in you. Teuchi-san the next ones on me." He said while seating himself beside his former student. "So tell me Naruto what was your first week with your team like?"

The hyperactive kid gave him his usual cheesy grin before answering. "You know what it's been like the missions where rubbish" he thanked Teuchi for the ramen bowl placed in front of him before digging in to his meal.

"I meant what you think about your teacher and teammates?" asked the older man while snapping a set of chopsticks open and digging into his own bowl.

Slurping down a pile of noodles he looked at the man beside him. "Kakashi-sensei's always late to every meeting and you should hear the excuses he comes up with. Sakura-chan is cute but she's always fawning over Sasuke teme who thinks he's better than me and Akari-chan's really nice and helpful just a bit quiet. Did you know she graduated from the academy when she was eight?"

Iruka chuckled lightly. "Naruto I think anyone placed beside you could be considered quiet. On the whole you haven't given me a very good review on your team but I suppose that will change, you have after all only been with them for a week. As for Akari-san yes I did know."

"Did you teach her? What was she like? Is she really strong?"

"Slow down Naruto and eat your food it's getting cold" he said pointing at the bowl of noodles in front of the boy. Seaming to remember he still had ramen in front of him Naruto began to wolf it down while he listened to Iruka talking.

Sighing he proceeded to answer the blonds questions. "No I didn't teach her I only started teaching very recently however I did know her parents and consequently I knew her. When I first met her I had only recently been promoted as a Chunnin, in fact it was actually her parents who helped me pass the Chunnin exam by being there for me to talk to them when I had no one else to turn to. A really nice couple they were" he paused for a minute to carry on eating his food before continuing. "She has changed a lot over the years though, she's back to what a remember her to be like" he trailed off with a dazed look in his eyes remembering past times. Naruto just stared at him puzzled.

"How can she have changed if she's the same as you remember her to be?"

Iruka regarded the boy beside him for a couple of seconds. "She's gone back to being what she was like then, happy and kind to everybody. After _that incident _five years ago she left the village for a couple of years and when she came back she was different. Sad, lonely and serious, I hardly even recognized her when she returned."

Naruto gulped. The air around them seemed to be getting thick and it was making him shift uncomfortably. "What do you mean by _that incident_?"

Iruka looked down at his former student and weighed his words carefully. "Almost five years ago when Akari-san was nine her teammates and parents were found dead within the village, the culprit was never caught or identified." He watched as the blonds eyes widened in shock and his hair stood on end.

"_Oh I've had my own team before, they just kind of… moved on without me"_

"_You mean they ascended in rank?"_

'So that's what she meant' thought Naruto to himself as a downcast look crept into his eyes, this morning's conversation ringing in his mind. "Ne Iruka-sensei? You said she left for two years. Where did she go to?"

"I'm afraid I can't really tell you Naruto it's confidential and I don't know myself anyway. You understand don't you?" The blond just nodded his head and carried on looking at the empty bowl in front of him.

'We're more alike than I thought. It explains why she hasn't really opened up to us yet.'

They sat in silence for a while before Naruto got up and placed the money for his meal on the counter. He turned and beamed at the man he loved and admired and thanked him for the bowl he'd paid for before proceeding to leave. He stopped in his tracks when he heard his name being called behind him.

"Naruto, I'm going to have to ask you not to mention any of this to Akari-san or your teammates. If she hasn't told you herself then she probably has her own reasons for not doing so." The blond in question muttered a quick 'don't worry I won't' before stepping out into the cool evening air. The sun was setting on the horizon dying the sky a beautiful mixture of purple and red. Stuffing his hands in his pockets he proceeded to make his way back to his apartment to prepare everything he may need for the mission he and his teammates were going on tomorrow.

xXx

She could feel his eyes on her as she sat on the wooden floor of her bedroom packing any scrolls and weapons needed for tomorrow's mission. He had been standing there for a while now not saying anything but she could tell from the slight clucking noises he made every now and then something was bothering him. After another five minutes of utter silence she turned to face him acknowledging his presence, her loose slightly damp hair framing her features.

"What?" she looked up at him expectantly. He didn't answer her straight away but carried on looking at her languidly while leaning against the doorframe.

"You called me Kakashi-_san_" he emphasized.

Seriously? That was what was bothering him? "Well I could hardly call you Kakashi in front of the Hokage could I? It would be disrespectful and I don't care about the fact that Sasuke never calls you sensei I at least have the decency of respecting my superiors" she answered while checking her shurikens where sharp. Looking back up at him she could see false tears trickling from his eyes and sweat dropped.

"Yeah I mentioned it because you _never _call me Kakashi-san when we're on our own."

She smiled up at him smugly. "You hardly deserve any respect because you read porn in public, _sensei_" she made sure to emphasize on the new suffix. He coughed to clear his throat.

"They're not porn, they're romance novels; spicy, graphically depicted romance novels and you know that having flicked through them yourself Akari-_chan_."

She snorted and turned back to her bag. "Whatever Kakashi they're smut, I at least don't read them in public."

"Oh so you _have_ flicked through them."

"I never said I had I merely stated I don't read that kind of thing in front of twelve year olds." She glared at him when he just kept on giving her a knowing look. Standing up and collecting her things she placed her bag beside her bed and proceeded to clip her sleeping bag onto it. "Don't you think I should move out?"

"What?"

She turned and regarded him. "I mean now that we're on the same team and all if Naruto and the others were to find out we live together don't you think it would be kind of awkward?"

"You know I'm your legal guardian until you're fifteen. My mission is completed then and your free to leave but until then you can't, besides where were you thinking of going to, back to your parents?"

She turned her back on him fingering the picture frame of her family on the bedside table. "No, I'm selling that place as soon as I'm eighteen, i…" she trailed off for a while swallowing her worries before looking back at the man she had grown to admire over the years. "I can't find it in myself to go back there."

He nodded in understanding while fingering his silver locks that seemed to defy gravity and that now hung more loosely over his closed right eye due to the absence of his forehead protector. "Do you _want_ to move out?"

His question surprised her catching her off guard. "What? No of course not I mean…" she blurted out while blushing slightly "I just thought it would be uncomfortable for you if they were to find out that's all and I just don't want to be bothersome, you've looked after me long enough" she finished off averting her gaze to the floor. It was true; the man had done a lot for her over the past two years. Kakashi wasn't known for showing affection to anybody, he abided the ninja code flawlessly and made sure his feelings never ran too deep for anyone. Surely looking after a teenager of the opposite sex was a handful for the man.

"Then by all means don't leave and if it really bothers you then don't tell them, you are after all a kunoichi, keeping information to yourself shouldn't be that hard."

She smiled meekly. That was very true as well, but what if she didn't want to have to lie to her teammates? Just by being around them she felt like she wanted to get to know them better and let them know her for who she truly was. After all not everybody could be like Kakashi and remain a mystery to the world. No she was different to him in many ways. Whereas he was complex and avoided making deep connections with people to not feel the remorse and pain that came with losing them, which was more often than not in this profession, she was simple and embraced the fact that the world moved on and pain was just one of the many experiences one had to live through before dying.

"Is that my shirt you're wearing?" Breaking through her train of thought she stared into the face of the man occupying her bedroom door frame before looking down at herself having forgotten what she was wearing before glaring back up at him.

"Yes it is. _Somebody_ neglected their laundry duties today so I've got no clean nightwear."

"Hmm I wonder who that could have been" he said placing a hand to his chin feigning concentration. Refraining from chucking something at him she looked down at the simple short sleeved black shirt with an attached mask and an idea popped into her mind.

"Ne Kakashi, look I'm you." He looked up to see her grinning behind the mask that was placed loosely around her features obviously a couple of sizes too big. Cocking his head to the side he tried to imagine her with her ever present pigtails and silver hair before shaking his head and walking out of the room. He had clearly been spending too much time around Naruto and his Sexy no Jutsu this week.

Akari watched with slightly widened eyes as he left the room before yanking the mask down and shouting down the corridor after his retreating figure.

"I don't even want to know what you were thinking!" Turning around she huffed and flicked off her bedroom lights before crawling into bed and looking at the two picture frames that stood on her bedside table. Sighing she turned around and inhaled the scent of rose water and sweet pea from her sheets accompanied by the slightly stronger masculine musky smell of pine trees and sandalwood that came from the shirt she was wearing and allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

**A.n: **Just a quick note, the MAIN reason if not the ONLY reason I made Akari graduate early from the Academy was to fit her past in and mesh it with Naruto's original story line. In other words, it was for the sake of the timeline. Reviews and ratings are appreciated :3


	3. To the Land of Waves,Akaris KekkeiGenkai

**A/N: **Okay guys, chapter 3 is finally up :D along with another picture which you can view in my DA gallery here: .com/ if the link doesn't work my username on DA is mangacookie too so check me out ;) Anyway, many things are revealed in this chapter to get you thinking and hopefully to keep you entertained until i upload chapter 4 ^-^ BTW when i cut of a scene abruptly from here on out like a fight for example it's because it ends the same as in the anime, i just wasn't going to write the whole thing out and like i said before, i didn't completely ditch this chapter because I want to work up to Akari's talents and her interaction with her teammates but i didn't want her being the main focus in the zabuza battles because the Zabuza arc are when Naruto and Sasuke really improve, i wasn't gonna take that off of them. Hope you enjoy it, don't forget to fav, rate and review please ;)

"Speaking"

'Thoughts'

**~To the land of waves, Akari's Kekkei Genkai~**

The sun shone down brightly upon the six travelers as they made their way to the land of waves. Their client, a carpenter in his early sixties that went by the name of Tazuna, had asked them to escort him back to his hometown and protect him from bandits until he finished the bridge he was building. It was a simple C-rank mission that was enough to keep all the members of the team happy. Naruto was happy to be going on a _real_ mission as he liked to put it, Sakura was excited at the prospect of visiting another village and Sasuke, although he didn't show it, was eager to put his skills to the test. Akari, like the rest of her team, was really happy to be spending some time away from her hometown in the company of her teammates. She smiled to herself as the landscape twisted and changed the further away they got from Konoha until her eyes zoomed onto a puddle. Frowning slightly she carried on walking alongside her friends but kept herself weary of their surroundings.

'Kakashi, that puddle…', she thought, her voice ringing through his head.

'You noticed? Good job.'

'What are you going to do?'

A grunt was the only reply she got. Sometimes the man could be so taciturn it was infuriating. What was a grunt supposed to mean? She didn't have much time to ponder on it as at that precise moment the clanking sound of metal had all of them turning around to see Kakashi's arms stuck to his sides by chains that had sharp edges around them, perfect for slicing through objects. Or in this case, people. Sakura and Naruto's eyes widened as they watched their sensei get ripped to shreds.

Whipping out a kunai from her pouch Akari ran over to Naruto whose face grew wide in terror as the two Ninja made their way behind his back preparing to attack and kill. Just as Sasuke intervened by jamming the enemy ninja's chain against a tree slightly halting their attack Akari grabbed Naruto by the collar of his jacket pulling him down to the ground narrowly avoiding a sharpened finger blade to the head. Looking up at their forehead protectors, the shinning emblem told her they were Hidden Mist nin.

"Naruto get up!" Came the quick order from his female teammate as she got into a fighting stance. He heard her words but his body wouldn't move. He was trembling with fear and was completely paralyzed.

As the two ninja separated from the chain that was preventing them from moving they split up. One made his way towards Sakura and Tazuna at an alarming speed while the other dashed towards the blond cowering on the ground. The battled ended just as quickly as it had started when Kakashi jumped in effectively knocking out the two surprised ninja. Dumping their limp forms on the ground unceremoniously he looked Naruto up and down before sighing.

"Sorry I didn't intervene before now, you ended up getting hurt. I didn't think you wouldn't be able to move though" he said while turning on his heel to assess the other three members of his team. "The rest of you good work."

'I wasn't capable of doing anything… Sasuke didn't doubt jumping into the battle even though it was his first real fight as well.' Thought Naruto; a shocked look adorning his features. He could hear his team talking about how the enemy ninjas blades were poisoned and how they were going to have to go back home to get him, Naruto, to a hospital but he was only half listening to what was going on.

"Tazuna-san, the mission you requested was for a team to protect you from any bandits while you built the bridge. These two," he pointed towards the two mist ninja that Sasuke and Akari were currently tying up to a tree "are Chunnin ninjas from the village of the Hidden Mist. If you're being targeted by enemy ninja then this mission is out of our hands, at the very least this would be an expensive B-rank mission, maybe even an A-rank. To top it off Naruto's been poisoned so we're going to have to go back." The sound of a kunai being withdrawn had them all turning to face their blond teammate and watch him stab his injured hand. Turning his back on them he started to mumble under his breath a promised to never run away ever again and to never lose against Sasuke.

"I swear by the pain in my left hand I'll protect that old man with this very kunai." He turned to face them and gave a dark chuckle. "The mission continues."

They all stared silently dumbfounded for a couple of seconds before Kakashi spoke up in his lackadaisical voice as if he didn't really care.

"You know I'm glad you decided to remove the poison from your wound like that, but if you don't cover that wound you're going to bleed to death." Watching the boy go into a panic fit Akari chuckled, as she removed her first aid kit from her bag and walked over to hand it to Kakashi who was currently inspecting the amount of damage caused to his student's hand. Her eyes widened slightly when she realized the cut was healing itself.

'K-Kakashi is that…'

'Yeah, looks like the Kyuubi powers heal any physical wounds he obtains.'

'Amazing. I've never seen anything like it.'

After resting for ten minutes and discussing what they were going to do it was decided that team 7 would carry on with the mission. Building the bridge would join the Land of Waves to Fire Country making it a wealthy community and if risking their lives to protect Tazuna was what they had to do, they would do it, even if they _were_ only a squad of Genin.

"Very well, it's decided then. Akari and Sakura you will stay by Tazuna's side no matter what happens, as for Sasuke and Naruto you will aid them and fight under my orders. Understood?" Receiving four nods of approval he hoisted his pack on his back and set of leading them to their destination. 'Next time someone's sent they will be Jounin instead of Chunnin' he thought to himself solemnly.

XxX

Heavy mist surrounded the Land of Waves making it easy for the team of ninja to be escorted into the village without being detected. It was a curious fact that once one was far enough away from the shore the mist dissipated making visibility much easier. However luck didn't seem to be on their side today as it was soon made clear that Tazuna didn't live in the actual village. Instead, he had built himself a house years ago near a lake that was surrounded by dense pine trees claiming that freshwater fish tasted better than salt water fish any day. Hoping to get started building the bridge the next day and to not run into any unwanted enemies Team 7 where making their way to Tazuna's house by following the very distinct sound of a river. Ever since their last fight Naruto hadn't stopped prattling on about how next time for sure he would be the star of the battle and he was really starting to wear his teammates out. Sakura drew the line when he nearly killed a rabbit by throwing kunai in his excitement and started shouting at him while Naruto hugged and begged the poor creature for forgiveness.

Akari reacted before she even heard the telltale whistling of a weapon slicing through the air, shinobi instincts kicking in, she dived dragging Tazuna to the ground with her as her teammates did the same all of them watching with speculative eyes as a huge sword incrusted itself in a tree and a man in his early twenties landed gracefully on the blade. One look at him told her he was at lease a Jounin maybe even an elite and the very thought had cold sweat trickling down her back. They were treading in deep water here.

It, only took Kakashi another second to realize who was attacking the group. Lifting up his head band to reveal his concealed eye, he let the tomoe spin wildly for a few second as they adjusted to the change of light. "Sharingan."

"Sharingan, what's that?" Naruto asked staring up at his teacher's uncovered eye.

Sasuke froze at the sight of the red eye that was glaring up at their attacker, "It's a bloodline limit," he answered uncertainly, 'A bloodline limit that belongs to the Uchiha clan, just what is going on here?'

Their enemy disappearing into a hazy cloud snapped the Genin's attention back to reality as they quickly formed a tight circle around Tazuna. Sasuke upfront with Akari protecting the rear while Naruto and Sakura flagged the sides. Due to the technique Zabuza was using, heavy mist was quickly forming around them, impending their sense of sight. If that was the case they were just going to have to use their other senses and try to track his chakra down, a feat which was easier said than done.

'Akari get rid of this mist' Kakashi ordered from somewhere in the haze behind her. It was more than unnerving to have her back turned towards everything and the fact that she could barely see what was two meters in front of her only made matters worse.

'What? You know I can't do that.'

'This isn't the time to be questioning your morals about using your mother's gift just get rid of the mist.'

'No seriously I can't, its chakra infused I can't do anything to it.'

The cursed reply she got was short livid as Zabuza jumped into action by appearing in their formation's only weak spot, right in the middle. While her teammates where knocked aside as Kakashi intervened by jamming a kunai into Zabuza's stomach, Akari quickly tossed Tazuna over her, sending him rolling on the ground a good distance away from the middle of the battle. She turned to see Zabuza dissolve into water and appear behind Kakashi slashing him right through his torso with his sword, wielding it with one hand as if it weighed no more than a butter knife. All students watched with slightly wide eyes as in turn their teacher too turned into water and appeared behind Zabuza once again. A battle of water clones.

It was then that Akari sensed something behind her, a dark presence with a cold powerful chakra signature. Whipping out a kunai she ran towards Tazuna, gritting her teeth in irritation as she jumped over his slouched form on the ground just in time to misdirect the heavy sword that would have effectively decapitated him had she not reacted so quickly by jamming it into the ground when she landed on it. Weapon firmly gripped in her hand she blocked a right hook with her left fist, feet scraping slightly against the huge blade due to the force of the impact. She jammed the point of the sharpened blade into her attacker's right under arm but instead of drawing blood, once again he turned into a puddle of water at her feet. Turning she shouted into the mist.

"Kakashi it's another water clone look out!"

Sharingan reacting rapidly giving him the momentum needed to duck to avoid a sharp kick to his side he turned and gave a swift upper kick to the clone in front of him making it disappear effectively just like its predecessors.

"Stick close to Tazuna-san" he said sharply, the order coming out as a calm low rumble making sure to keep an eye on his students while not dropping his guard. Akari came running forward with Tazuna alongside her to join her teammates who all had different degrees of surprise on their faces. A quick movement by the riverbank caught their attention and Kakashi sped towards it hoping to catch their victim by surprise by using the water as a means of cover.

The group watched him run towards the stream of water, water that in Akari's mind felt too heavy almost as if…

"Kakashi don't!" she screamed out but was too late. As soon as his body came in contact with the wet surface a water bubble surrounded him trapping him inside. Standing in front of the bubble keeping it active by filtering chakra into it through the hand that was in contact with the wet surface, Zabuza gave out a low dark chuckle.

"Seems like you should listen to your underlings more often Kakashi, at least a couple of them aren't completely useless, shame they're all going to have to die" he drawled out staring at the group ahead of him.

Beside her, Akari could feel Sakura shaking with fear while Naruto clenched his fists in despair. Even Sasuke seemed shaken if the tormented look in his eyes was anything to go by. She could understand them as she too was fighting down the tremor of fear that was threatening to engulf her.

"You guys, take Tazuna-san and get out of here, he can't follow you while he keeps me trapped!"

'What the hell is he talking about?' she thought to herself desperately.

"Running stopped being an option the minute you were caught!" Sasuke shouted out trying to erase the feeling of uneasiness that was slowly creeping up on him like a predator preparing for the kill.

Gripping her kunai fiercely to stop her hands shaking Akari tried to still her thoughts as her breathing became erratic and heavy. If she didn't calm herself down she was going to start hyperventilating but for the life of her she couldn't stop the screaming that was ringing incessantly in her ears as the few images of memories she had flickered in front of her eyes like a badly played movie tormenting her.

_Blood was splattered everywhere she looked, on the ground, the leaves, and on herself. Daring a glimpse at the lifeless corpses that lay on the ground still warm in the freshness of death in front of her she felt her gut churn uncontrollably. More screaming could be heard but she knew for a fact it was just her mind playing tricks on her, taunting her. Those screams would never be heard again as their owners were now lying splayed on the dirt track at her feet. She hadn't made it in time. The next thing she knew she was running in the opposite direction, her short legs and small frame flailing wildly against the dense canopy of forest, tears threatening to fall from her long lashes. Fighting down the urge to be sick she ran into her house not caring about the fact that she wasn't supposed to be here right now and that she should have probably warned a teacher but then the sight she saw made her stop cold in her tracks. More blood. _

'Not again' she swallowed hard, sweat trickling down her brow as she clamped her eyes shut to stop the onslaught of nasty images 'I can't lose another team like this.'

"Sasuke" Naruto's voice startled her removing all the thoughts from her mind. When had he moved from her side to stand in front of them? When had Zabuza made another water clone? Had she really been that distracted?

"What?"

Grinning, the blond turned his head slightly to direct his face towards his teammate without taking his eyes off of the man standing mere meters away from him. "I have a plan."

XxX

The fight didn't last long once Kakashi was freed thanks to Sasuke and Naruto's incredible burst of teamwork and now they were all standing, exhausted as they watched Kakashi converse with an ANBU black op who claimed to have been hunting down missing ninja Zabuza for some time and it was thanks to them he was able to be caught. Hoisting Zabuza's limp form over his shoulder, the Mist ANBU took his leave.

Turning to face his students he regarded their worn out expressions. Sasuke and Naruto had received a few good hits but didn't look gravely hurt while the two kunoichi looked shocked and worn out. He could tell by his roommate's expression that something had unnerved her. Maybe it was the fact that she had been forced to stay by Tazuna's side not being able to help her teammates. His gut instincts told him it was something else; she wasn't the type to complain about having to do guard duty while she watched others fight. He was just about to comment on the fact that they all looked like they had just made it out of a thunderstorm when a sharp pain shot all the way up his back making his legs stiffen and before he could stop himself he fell on the ground face first into the dirt. With a few startled cries of 'Sensei' his students ran towards him all looking at him worried and unsure of what to do.

"Sensei, are you alright?" Sakura asked tentatively.

"Yeah fine, I've been worse. Just used my Sharingan for too long that's all" he replied halfheartedly. He heard his other female companion give an exasperated sigh as she plopped herself down on the ground, her arms propped behind her back to keep her upright.

"One if these days Hatake Kakashi you're gonna sign your own death warrant." He found himself unable to stop the deep chuckle that vibrated from within his chest. They hoisted him up between them and slowly made their way to Tazuna's house hoping to get there before nightfall and praying they didn't run into any more enemies.

XxX

Tazuna's house was cozy and welcoming and all the team members were grateful for the warm fireplace they could sit in front of languidly after a hard days travel, and even though most of them wouldn't admit it openly, with the exception of Naruto's hearty groans of pleasure and Sakura's sighs of relief they were all thoroughly worn out. Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter was a lovely cheerful woman who instantly offered them food, even though they were a poor family living off of what they could afford and what nature could give them, and a room to sleep in claiming it was the least she could do for them if they were going to protect her father. That's how the five ninja found themselves cramped together in a room due to the small amount of space available, all lying peacefully in their sleeping bags easily drifting off into light sleeps as was mandatory on missions, letting their bodies rest after a hard day's work.

Sighing Akari turned on her side and stared out the window up at the black sky with its glistening stars scampered haphazardly across the blanket of darkness.

'I didn't do anything today to help them. I let fear block me and could have gotten myself killed. Stupid, instead of wallowing in the past I should have helped.' She looked over at the sleeping figures of her teammate's one at a time before glancing at her team leader who was furthest away from her. A shiver ran down her spine as their eyes clashed, dark gray staring into deep blue. She hadn't realized he'd been watching her. Of course he would, whether they were camping outside or inside was irrelevant they were still in enemy territory and as a team leader he was looking out for them. Turning on her back she stared up at the wooden pattern of the ceiling pushing down the queasy feeling of guilt that was building up in her stomach. It was her fault they were here. She had been the one to suggest they get a better mission. If any of them died it would be entirely her fault. She promptly ignored the voice in the back of her head that told her shinobi died on missions all the time. It was part of their job after all to fight for their country and in the case of inevitable death they were to take as many enemies down with them as possible.

'Sleep' she herd spoken in a warm masculine voice inside her head. Smiling she knew it was foolish to think Kakashi would let any of them die on his watch, he had after all, told them that very afternoon that he would die to protect his comrades. Her smile faltered a bit. That was the problem though, they shouldn't need protecting. They shouldn't be doing this goddamned mission which required them to be protected. Even if teammates looked out for each other all the time, this was different because their enemy's skills were much more powerful than theirs. Shutting her eyes and with those thoughts still roaming the back of her mind she let herself drift off into a dreamless sleep.

Kakashi sighed as he closed his good eye for a while, refraining from rubbing it in his tired stupor before opening it once again and looking around the room. If they were camping outside he could distract himself by reading Icha Icha Paradise with the help of a small fire but as things were he could barely move let alone use his Sharingan to read in the dark. Instead he entertained himself with replaying the way Naruto and Sasuke had fought against Zabuza to free him only a couple of hours ago. In the course of the mission they had grown more than he would have expected them to, especially Naruto. Fear of death normally did that to a person. He also thought about the ANBU op from Hidden Mist that had conveniently appeared to take Zabuza's body away. Conveniently being the key word. Eyes widening slightly while he stifled a groan having realized exactly what was going on he thought he might as well as get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day if he was going to start training his team for the upcoming dangers.

XxX

Chakra control was something all ninja had to learn eventually. It was mainly learned through years of experience and intensive training until it became second nature, however there were certain exercises one could attempt in order to speed up the process. That's why three members of Team 7 currently found themselves tree climbing.

After gaining little to no sleep Kakashi had decided that working on his teams chakra control was the best training they could do. It helped them perfect the amount of chakra they put into their techniques, aiding them in wasting as little as possible, and they didn't need his help for it seeing as he still couldn't move properly. In the off chance that they did need any help Akari was there with them although he had to admit Sakura's impressive chakra control had surprised him. Where she was more of a burden that a help in a battle, she had the brains and chakra of a pro. It was clear to him now that she was a Genjutsu type which was something that balanced out the team well seeing as it was the complete opposite to the rest of her teammates fighting styles. She just had to work on that. However the sad truth was he wasn't the perfect candidate to teach her being more of a combat fighter himself than an illusion artist. Kurenai was a more adept teacher but she had her own team to handle so that ruled her out. Sighing and slowly limping out of the forest on a pair of crutches he promised himself if they made it out of this mission alive he would find her a teacher more suited to her talents.

XxX

Scratching the back of his golden locks in frustration he looked up the length of the tree he was supposed to be climbing. Sakura had made it more than halfway on her first try and Sasuke had managed to run up a good quarter of his tree too and yet somehow he only managed to take two steps up before falling flat on his back. It was irritating to say the least. Why was there this big a difference between their abilities? Akari he could understand, she had years of experience to back her up but how the hell had Sakura managed to run so far up? Turning around to face the only member on the team that wasn't tree climbing he found her sitting cross-legged on a rock, her brow furrowed in concentration as she meditated. Deciding he might as well as give it a shot he walked over to her and kneeled down.

"Ne ne Akari-chan? How can I mold my chakra better to do this stupid exercise?"

Opening her eyes she looked at his determined face while thinking of a suitable answer to give him. Deciding simple explanations were the best way to get through to him she answered his question with a question of her own.

"You know how to jump from tree branch to tree branch don't you?"

Face scrunching in confusion he replied "Well yeah that's easy you just channel a little chakra into your feet to stick to the branch every time you jump. What's that got to do with tree climbing?"

"Tree climbing is essentially the same thing. You channel chakra into your feet to keep you stuck to the bark of the tree, however too much breaks the bark and not enough makes you slip. I like to think about tree climbing as jumping from tree branch to tree branch except try to imagine the trees as if they were on a hill. To reach your next branch you need to channel more chakra into your kick and then you need to make sure you've got the right amount to land up straight on the next branch instead of going straight through it" she grinned sheepishly once she was finished explaining "I dunno I'm not very good at explaining, maybe Sakura could explain this to you better than I can."

Grinning he nodded and thanked her for the advice as he skipped over to his pink haired teammate who was currently splayed across the floor looking completely exhausted.

"So how did you undergraduate at the Academy?"

Turning her head she looked up into the dark ebony eyes of her other male companion. Her eyebrows rose up to her hairline in surprise. _The_ Uchiha Sasuke was attempting to start a conversation with her? The world must be coming to an end.

"I dunno, I was just a fast learner," she started while handing him the canteen he was holding his hand out for, "I trained with my parents for a while after that and about a year later I was placed on a Genin team. Both my teammates were undergraduates as well, although they were a year older than me."

"Let me guess," he said while taking a swig of water, "you developed a premature bloodline limit?" Her smile answered most of his question.

"I've been able to use my abilities for as long as I can remember."

"_Abilities _as in more than one bloodline limit_?_"

"Your still babbling on about that, just tell me already what the hell a bloodline limit is!" bellowed the blond having made his way over with Sakura to take a quick brake alongside his fellow teammates.

"I already told you Dobe, a bloodline limit is a technique or special ability passed down from one generation to the next within clans."

"_Teme_ I told you not to call me that!"

Ignoring the blonds incessant screeching he turned back to regard the eldest member of the group. "Well? Is that even possible?"

Nodding her head slightly while playing with a stick in the dirt she answered him. "It's possible. Uncommon, but definitely not unheard of. But no I don't have more than one bloodline limit. I have my dad's bloodline limit and a 'gift' I was taught from my mum however that in itself is my greatest weakness and the fact that neither of them needs chakra to be used is also a weakness."

"Weakness? That sounds like an advantage to me," Sakura said.

"No, it's not. It means I can't last in prolonged battles. I'm a team fighter. On my own I'm actually not all that good. In fact if we were to compare our chakra levels, out of the four of us I've probably got the least chakra."

At that Naruto started choking on the water he had been currently downing earning himself a couple of pats on the back by Sakura. Once he recuperated he stared at the girl in front of him. "B-but you graduated early! You've got more experience than us how can you be the one to have the least chakra?"

Chuckling she answered him while she handing him a tissue to wipe himself "Being an undergraduate doesn't make me the best on this team you know. The reason I have less chakra is because I hardly use it. The exercise I was doing just now was to stimulate the flow of chakra within me to eventually produce more, but between us, I'll probably always have the amount of chakra any normal Genin would."

They stared at each other in silence for a while regarding the words spoken before Sakura spoke up. "So what are your bloodline limits, abilities or whatever the heck you wanna call them?"

"My father's bloodline limit is actually produced by a mutation in the DNA sequence in the brain and my mother's gift is… kind of special I suppose."

"So you've got a bigger brain than us?" Naruto asked clearly puzzled. For some reason Akari found the question highly amusing and burst out laughing. Once she regained control over herself and wiped the tears that had formed at the corners of her eyes she looked up at him.

"No that's not it. It's just that a part of my brain that is normally dormant in regular humans is more active than it should be. The fact that the gene that produces the mutation isn't dominant made the Seishin clan forbid any mixture of blood with other clans. That's why my father eventually left Lightning Country to hook up with my mum in Rice Country and years later they moved to Konoha where I was born."

"Dominant gene, blood mixtures?" began Naruto clamping his eyes shut in his foxy manner, "Argh I don't understand a thing!"

"God Naruto you really are an idiot," said Sakura.

"So you're only 'half-blood'?" asked Sasuke.

"You could say that. The fact that I have mixed bloodlines makes my dad's bloodline limit really hard to use sometimes, or to be more precise I can't use it to the extent any 'pureblood' member of the Seishin clan could."

"So just tell us already what your bloodline limit is?" Naruto asked eagerly getting on his hands and knees so as to look at her properly.

Akari just chuckled before winking at them and saying "You'll see when the time is ripe. Come to think of it the three of you should be tree climbing."

At her words Sasuke got up seeming to have tired of their chit chat and started walking back towards his tree. When Sakura spoke up he turned around slightly to see the reaction to her question.

"So what about your mother's gift? Can you show us that?"

Whatever he had been expecting it was not the way her eyes turned to look at the ground nor the way her knees came up to her chest as if to offer more protection.

"I promised myself years ago I wouldn't ever use my mother's gift again."

Something about the way she said it had Naruto looking at her sadly as he remembered the conversation he had had with Iruka the day prior to them leaving for this mission.

"_After that incident five years ago she left the village for a couple of years and when she came back she was different. Sad, lonely and serious, I hardly even recognized her when she returned."_

"Eh but why not?"

"Sakura-chan we really should get back to training" said Naruto while getting up. The look he gave her left no room for arguing and as she got up and left, Akari found herself giving him a silent 'thank you' for having dropped the subject. Getting up she stretched her arms before picking up the empty canteens.

"I'm just gonna go fill these up. Be right back," she said while walking off. Right now she felt like being alone for a while. However once she reached the lake outside Tazuna's house she realized that that silent wish had gone ignored. Sitting on the shore with his back propped against a rock and reading his book was none other than Hatake Kakashi. Resigning herself to his company she walked up to him, took her sandals off and stuck her feet in the cool water.

"So how are they getting along?" he asked while turning a page of his beloved book.

"Better."

If her lack of interest in the subject had bothered him he didn't give it away. He just kept on reading his book and for a while they just sat in comfortable silence not looking at one another. Or at least that's what she thought. Kakashi being the stealthy ninja he was kept giving her side wards glances every now and then. He could see the tension in Akari's body and the internal battle in her eyes. Something was up.

"Sasuke asked me about my bloodline limit." Ah so that was what was wrong. He hummed to let her know he had heard her while he flipped another page. "I didn't tell them anything anybody else wouldn't know, but then Sakura asked me about my mother's gift and I needed to get away for a while."

"I think you're acting like a hypocrite" was the curt reply she received. She looked up at him completely surprised, brows furrowing slightly in anger and eyes flashing dangerously, silently asking him to explain himself. Without looking up from the words he was reading he carried on, talking more to himself than to her. "You claim you never use that gift and yet in our fight against Zabuza you knew the water had chakra in it which means you were attempting to control it, if you're going to use your gift for trivial things and then proclaim to the rest of the world you aren't then you're acting like a hypocrite."

"What the hell would you know? Just because I'm sensitive to nature doesn't mean I was attempting to control anything so don't go spouting nonsense about things you don't understand!" The stern look he sent her way made her bow her head to look at her feet and mumble a barely audible apology for her outburst. Putting her sandals back on and picking up the canteens she started making her way back towards the forest. The day she felt like being alone he decided to converse more than what was necessary. She stopped momentarily when he carried on talking to her retreating figure.

"You can't attempt to run away all your life, one day you're gonna have to open yourself up to who you really are. Your parent's wouldn't have wanted this."

Without turning back she carried on walking away from him. He was too much to deal with right now.

XxX

A week went by and Team 7 made great progress with the tree climbing exercise. Nobody had attempted to attack them again and Kakashi was back to walking without the use of crutches. In fact if all went well the bridge would be finished in two more weeks.

"We'll leave Naruto to you, he probably won't be able to move today from over exertion so just let him sleep" said Kakashi cheerfully to Tsunami as the rest of the team prepared to escort Tazuna to the bridge. She nodded and waved goodbye to them as they all walked down the dirt track into town.

"You think Naruto will agree so easily to just staying in bed?" Sakura asked.

"I'd be surprised if he could even move after the way he pushed himself beyond his limit yesterday" replied Sasuke. Akari nodded in agreement, their hyperactive teammate just didn't know when to call it a day. Arriving at the bridge they started making their way across it, Akari and Sakura talking animatedly to each other while the men just walked in comfortable silence, however when they reached the building point they stopped in their tracks when they saw all the constructers unconscious on the floor. Barely given any time to register what had happened mist started crawling around them lazily getting thicker by the second impending their sense of sight.

"Stick close to Tazuna-san, _he's_ here" ordered Kakashi as his students took up their defense positions around the bridge builder. They each pulled out a kunai, ready to defend themselves from any upcoming attack.

"I see your still dragging those kids around with you Kakashi." Walking along the bridge towards them were two figures. One of them easily recognizable because of the unique sword he carried and the other disguised in an informal kimono with an ANBU mask covering his face. "That one is even trembling, pathetic" he drawled pointing at Sasuke as six water clones materialized around them.

Smirking, Sasuke gripped his kunai tighter and replied "I'm trembling with excitement." No sooner had he finished saying that than all the water clones disappeared having received fast and precise attacks from the Uchiha.

'He's gotten a hell of a lot faster' thought Akari acknowledging her teammates growth.

"Haku, looks like you've got yourself a worthy opponent" said Zabuza to the masked boy that stood beside him. Dividing quickly into two groups Haku ran towards Sasuke who blocked his onslaught of attacks while Zabuza ran the length of the bridge aiming a side attack at Tazuna but being intercepted by Kakashi.

Grinning up at the face of the man he owed a good beating to Zabuza unclasped his sword from his back. "It's a shame you can't be in two places at the same time."

At his words Kakashi's eyes widened at the realization that he had been forced to leave the rest of his team's side leaving them exposed to attacks. Sakura gasped as five water clones materialized some meters behind Tazuna each grabbing a fistful of assorted weapons from their back pouches and throwing them at the three people huddled together.

'There's too many we can't block them' thought Sakura in despair as she watched the projectiles leave their owners hands. She watched as if in slow motion as Akari jumped to the front lines stretching out her right hand in front of her, palm wide open with no weapon to deflect the upcoming metal. Her eyes widened as she saw her female teammates eyes start glowing a light shade of blue and watched amazed as the projectiles, which had also started glowing, stop in their progress towards them, spinning almost lazily in midair.

"Seishinryoku" said Akari in a low voice glancing up at the missiles that had stopped moving towards them. Without warning and just as if she had thrown them herself they went back the way they came from at an alarming speed effectively tearing through their owners making them disappear leaving nothing but puddles on the floor. Turning around to face the real Zabuza that had witnessed everything with wide eyes while also making sure his enemy wasn't about to attack him she smirked. "Simple attacks like those won't work while I'm here."

"I see. So she has a bloodline limit" he snarled.

"Seishinryoku, the ability to move objects among other abilities with the power of the mind, that's her bloodline limit" said Kakashi confirming Zabuza's suspicion.

"Oh? Interesting, seems like I'm going to enjoy myself once I finish you off."

A pained gasp had all the party members looking towards Haku and Sasuke's fight to see what had happened. Shock coursed through them when they saw Sasuke surrounded by what appeared to be ice mirrors with Haku reflecting in them throwing senbon after senbon at the Uchiha mercilessly.

"But you see Kakashi, Haku also possesses a bloodline limit" Zabuza all but chuckled out.

'This is bad, if Sasuke doesn't get out of there he'll be killed' thought Akari gritting her teeth together. She couldn't leave Tazuna's side while Kakashi wasn't here and by the looks of things he had his hands full already.

"Tazuna-san I'm going to have to leave you for a second," said Sakura while picking up a stray kunai, "Akari-san, I'm leaving the rest to you."

"Be careful!" shouted Akari to the retreating figure of her teammate.

'I've got to do something' thought Sakura while running up to the ice dome, 'If I can just give this to Sasuke-kun he will at least be able to defend himself.' Gaining speed as she pushed chakra into her feet she jumped up high into the air and took aim before throwing the kunai. "Sasuke-kun, catch it!"

Just as the sharpened blade made it through the dome, Haku's hand shot out from one of the mirrors and grabbed the weapon by the handle. Sakura and Sasuke's hearts dropped at the sight of the amazing skill the boy, who was not much older than them, possessed. Suddenly appearing out of nowhere a shuriken slashed through the air and hit Haku's mask. Catching him off guard, he fell out of the mirror he had been peeking out from. A smoke bomb went off near the ice prison and once the cloud dissipated a ninja clad in an orange jumpsuit and blond hair was revealed.

"Uzumaki Naruto has arrived!"

XxX

By the time the battles were over everyone was looking worse for wear. Haku having sacrificed himself to protect his companion from Kakashi's attack, left Zabuza distraught. Once Gatoh, the mastermind behind all of Wave countries bad luck appeared with a small army of samurai, Zabuza, in a final attempt to clean his name murdered him, taking down as many samurai as he could before he too succumbed to death. The townsfolk having worked up the courage to fight Gatoh head on drove the remaining samurai out of their town. The only bad news was the loss their team had received.

"Go and be with Sakura-chan please, I don't want her to be alone right now" begged Naruto looking up at Akari who had remained behind to back up Naruto and Kakashi in the off chance of them needing any help. Nodding she set off across the bridge to the area where Sasuke had fought against Haku. When she arrived she saw Tazuna with his head lowered down grieving while Sakura cried her eyes out over Sasuke's chest. Not really sure of what to do she just stood beside Tazuna's side.

"S-Sakura, you're squashing me."

Everybody snapped their eyes up at the sound of his voice. Akari made her way over to them and kneeled down beside Sasuke's body.

"I thought he was dead?" she asked puzzled.

"N-Naruto said he was so I just assumed…"

"Oh so you didn't check his vitals?"

"He was cold what else was I supposed to think?"

"Nice one Sakura some hell of a medic you'd make. He was probably cold due to the blood loss and having been lying on the ground" Akari said half amused half relieved. Being careful as she removed the senbon she placed her palms over the scratches and holes that ran the length of his body, green chakra flowing into them sealing them up.

"You're a medic nin?" Sakura asked bewildered refraining from hugging Sasuke in his weakened state.

Akari snorted before answering. "Hardly. I only know how to cure scratches and stuff. Real basic, so you may wanna drop by the hospital when we get back in case the senbon affected any of your nerves" she said her brow furrowing in concentration before she continued. "I don't have the chakra necessary to be a medic nin. If I was to venture a guess I'd say he collapsed due to exhaustion, pain and blood loss," grinning at the boy below her she added, "don't worry porcupine you'll survive." His grunt made them all burst out laughing.

Later that same day as the sun was setting they buried Zabuza and Haku together placing Zabuza's sword by his grave and Haku's scarf by his. All of them had learned a valuable lesson that day, a lesson they weren't likely to ever forget. A perfect shinobi was a tool used by its village when needed. They didn't need emotions that would burden them and they didn't need a reason to exist. For the sake of a mission they had to stop being human. That was the essence of a true ninja. A nasty truth that most shinobi suffered from. It was naturally, surprising for them all when Naruto declared he was going to find his own ninja path and live with no regrets. Smiling, they all set off back to Tazuna's house for some rest. Once the bridge was finished so was their mission and they would be on their way back to Konoha. Having been away for nearly two weeks they were all secretly looking forward to going back home.

"So you really can read minds" Sakura said to the brunette in the group.

Blinking a couple of times she looked at Sakura pointedly. "What are you talking about?"

"Your father's bloodline limit, Seishinryoku, the ability to use your minds power to achieve things such as moving objects and stuff. When we first met I was under the impression you could read minds but then you said you were just good at reading peoples body language when in reality you could hear what we were thinking right?"

Sasuke and Naruto stopped in their tracks abruptly not liking the idea of someone being able to read their minds. Kakashi who had started reading his book as they walked had to sidestep the boys to avoid bumping into them.

"Actually its true mind reading is an ability from the Seishin clan but even the most adept members find it hard to achieve. Without physical contact for many it is seemingly impossible. You see a person's mind is protected by their chakra as a means of defense. The amount of trust you have towards a person is also a big defense against mind reading so when an unknown entity tries to force its way through those barriers, a reaction is set off and the body fights to protect its owner's mind. Understand?"

Sighing at the blank looks she received she proceeded to explain it from a different angle. "A member from the Seishin clan can't just stand beside anybody and read their mind it's impossible, the human body has too many defensive mechanisms. However it is possible for them to read the minds of those people they know really well or are attached to in some way or another and even then there are certain difficulties."

"And what would those difficulties be?" asked Sasuke.

"Well it's a bit like Genjutsu, there are some people who are really good at recognizing it and therefor are immune and there are others that fall for the simplest tricks. If a person doesn't want their mind to be read they can attempt to block their thoughts. That way, unless the person has physical contact or unless they are _extremely_ skilled they won't be able to read that persons thoughts. Hell if it was that easy to hear what people were thinking the Seishin clan would be much more powerful than what it actually is. No one would be able to lay a hand on them."

"I suppose that's true, as well as a relief," sighed Sakura. She'd die of embarrassment if her teammate could hear her Inner voice speaking.

"So can you read our minds or not?" blurted out Naruto, as he scratched the side of his face still trying to understand everything that had just been said.

"My father was never any good at it and in all my life I've only ever been able to communicate telepathically with one person. Besides a 'half-blood' like me doesn't have a hope in hell of using such complex techniques, you've really got nothing to worry about. Even if I could hear what you were thinking whenever I wanted doesn't mean I actually would sheesh what do you take me for?"

Chuckling and resuming their pace towards town there wasn't a doubt in their minds that Akari really wouldn't use her abilities to hear what they were thinking if she could. She was too honest of a person to do something like that.

"You said you could communicate telepathically with one person didn't you? Who exactly is that person?" inquired the blond teenager as he kicked a pebble into the lake enjoying the sloshing sound the waves made as they crashed onto the shore. He watched her turn to face him with an amused smirk on her face.

"Hi-mit-su."

**A.N:** Okay i know Half-blood sound very Harry Potterish but every time i wrote hybrid i just kept imagining Akari with lizard scales -_- Anyway now i can explain to you Akari's clan name. Her telekinetic abilities which i named Seichinryoku literally means 'spiritual power' and it's where Akari's fathers clan gets their family name Seishin from which means 'pure spirit'. I am actually quite pleased with the name Akari ended up with and with how i have managed to build her clan around that one simple word. Anyway hope you're anxious for chapter 4.


	4. Ghosts of the past

**A.N: **Hey guys :D sorry for the delay but chapter 4 is finally up ;). I have to say this is by far the shortest chapter i have ever writte- *ducks and dodges shuriken* o.o BUT there are new character coming out in this chapter which should hopefully keep you happy, more team bonding and more revealing events. Don't forget to fav, rate and review :P

**~Ghosts of the past~**

_Her footsteps made loud clapping sounds against the ground as she ran frantically towards the source of her distress. The screaming she was hearing in the distance served to make her run faster; fuelling her body with the adrenalin it needed to push on through the haze._

"_Just around the corner," she told herself pleading with the skies that she get there in time. Making a sharp right turn she skidded against the black tiled floor before the foul stench of blood hit her nostrils as she inhaled sharply. In front of her was the scene she had replayed in her mind over a dozen times for the past five years except it was slightly different, the people she was expecting to be there had been substituted by other people she cared about: her teammates. Sakura's satin pink hair was stained crimson while Naruto's orange jumpsuit was torn and Sasuke's arms where lying in an unnatural manner. _

_Falling to her knees she repressed the urge to throw up. Clenching her fists so tight it hurt she watched as the walls around her crumbled painting her surroundings pitch black, a perfect match for the cold tiles she was currently kneeling on. The change of scenery brought her old team back into the picture each looking at her with dead penetrating stare's blaming her for the loss of their lives, but before she could come to terms with what was happening the scenery dissolved again leaving her alone and in a body that was not her own. A woman's cries could be heard ahead. Scrambling to get up he was on his feet and running. He knew those cries. He had to get to her in time, to save her. He had made the promise to do so. Once again the scenery changed and he was surrounded by rocks that seemed to come crashing down out of nowhere and in the distance there was a boy about his age standing stock still. Said boy looked up and smiled in his direction before the avalanche of rocks came tumbling down on top of him. Fighting down the tears he made a desperate attempt to reach his friend shouting out to him; "OBITO!"_

Akari sat up straight in bed panting slightly, cold sweat trickling down the side of her face. What the hell had just happened? Her dreams never ended like that. It was true that her actual teammates' being dead was only a recent thing but she had never once seen the boy that had been crushed in her dreams before. Shifting noises from somewhere in the house caught her attention and shortly after realization dawned on her. She was hearing his thoughts again. Jumping out of bed quietly she made her way silently down the hall and stood in the doorway to her teachers' bedroom. He was shifting slightly in his sleep and had to be really zoned out to not have picked up on her presence yet. Staying in the doorway she observed the room for a while. He had fallen asleep finishing off the mission report for their time in Wave country; it was still open resting on his chest. The fountain pen he had been using had rolled out of his hand at some point and onto the floor where it left a small splatter of ink due to the force of the fall. The kunai that would normally be under his pillow at night was resting abandoned on his bedside table. Deciding it was safer to stay out of harms reach she levitated the metal object, eyes shining brightly in the dark, before letting it fall to the floor with a resounding clatter. As expected her companion sat bolt up-right on guard prepared to kill whatever was threatening his life.

"It's me," she whispered quietly walking into the light coming in from his bedroom window to prove she wasn't a threat to him. He visibly relaxed when he saw her and pulled the mask attached to his shirt up out of habit.

"What do you want?" he asked clearing his throat from the gruffness of sleep.

Akari made her way over to him and picked up the forgotten kunai and pen from the floor and placed them back on the table before sitting down on the edge of his bed.

"You were having a nightmare, it just kinda… fused it-self with mine," she began awkwardly before being cut off.

"How much did you see?" he asked trying to mask his annoyance while staring at her. She averted her gaze from his opting to look down at her feet.

"I swear I didn't mean to I was just drea…"

"How much?"

Sighing she looked back into his ebony eye before responding. "Not much, it was really not making much sense, I just heard someone crying and then I heard you shout out for 'Obito?' I think, and then I woke up." Returning her gaze to the floor she bit her bottom lip. "I'm really sorry; I didn't mean to see anything." She hated it when he was mad at her. After what seemed like an eternity of silence she heard him sigh before he answered her.

"Doesn't matter, wasn't your fault. This mission… it just hit closer to home than expected that's all," he said while rolling up the mission report. It could wait until tomorrow to be finished.

"D'you wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," he answered flatly. Something was tormenting her that much he could tell, she rarely ever tried to get any information about his past out of him but right now he couldn't find it in him to really care, he just wanted to be alone. After what seemed like an eternity, which had in fact probably been no more than a couple of minutes of staring at her pointedly he cleared his throat readying himself to ask her to leave when she whispered his name. She sounded vulnerable; he knew that voice. It was the same voice he had heard her speak in when they had first met two years prior. It was a voice that carried a tortured past to it and yet at the same time carried nothing. It was a voice that longed to know the truth. Seeing her saddened expression he thought he probably shouldn't have spoken to her quite so roughly. He waited patiently until she looked up at him and stared him straight in the eye. Her piercing blue clashing with his deep ebony black.

"What's it like… to remember?"

xXx

It was earlier than he had intended to get up, after all he wasn't meeting up with his teammates until 3p.m. They had all agreed upon returning from Wave country yesterday that they would sleep in and get some rest before meeting up in the afternoon to schedule for upcoming missions, however, it seemed he wasn't going back to bed anytime soon. Instead he found himself out on his small balcony checking up on his pot plants and giving them the fertilizer they needed. They had received plenty of water during his three week absence seeing as he had set his mini sprinklers to go off at dawn and at dusk everyday but the soil was starting to lack nutrients. Ruffling his spiky hair he stood up readying himself to go back indoors when something caught his attention. Bending down he pulled out a small pot that had been hidden among the others. It contained a small plant that he had planted a week before setting out to Wave country. Turning the pot experimentally in his hand he observed it. It had clearly outgrown its pot but that wasn't what had caught his attention. The small green plant stood up proud with a slight lazy wilt to it almost as if it hadn't a care in the world. Grinning he changed it to a bigger pot and quickly wrote a small note on it with a permanent marker. Placing it carefully inside a carrier box he made his way out of his apartment. He knew exactly who to give the small plant to.

xXx

At first she didn't know exactly what had woken her up at nine o clock in the morning until she heard it again. Someone was knocking on the front door. Grumbling she turned around hoping that whoever it was would go away. After another couple of knocks whoever it was disturbing her sleep had found the doorbell. Sighing she kicked the covers off of her and stormed down the hall. She gave a dirty look in the general direction of Kakashi's bedroom cursing him for having the room furthest from the front door before making her presence known to her guest.

"I swear to god Genma if that's you I'm gonna…" she didn't manage to finish her sentence as she swung the door open and a shocked look crept onto her features. It was practically the same look that adorned her blond teammates face. She watched his eyes sweep quickly over to the name plate that was beside the door and read Hatake Kakashi before returning to look at his female teammate.

"Akari-chan why are you at Kakashi-Sensei's house at this time in the morning?"

"Errr," she found herself unable to string anything intelligible together.

"And why are you wearing pyjama's?" he asked looking her up and down.

"Err,"

"Why does it look like you've slept here?" he asked with a thread of uncertainty in his voice.

"Umm,"

"Akari if it's Genma just shut the door in his face" came the voice of the one person she didn't want to see right now.

Kakashi came walking down the hall, rubbing sleep from his eyes, having been woken up by whoever was making a racket by his front door only to find his whisker marked student looking mortified holding a wooden carrier box and a very annoyed looking roommate. Before he could react his youngest student placed the box into his companion's hands much to her confusion before storming up to him and pointing an accusing finger in his face.

"Kakashi-sensei, I respected you, I never thought you were capable of doing such a thing, she's OUR TEAMMATE not to mention YOUR STUDENT! How could you do such a thing? I knew you were a creep for reading that book of yours but SHE'S OUR TEAMMATE!" he rambled on poking the older man in the chest.

Kakashi was clearly trying to defend himself from the onslaught of words while his still half asleep brain tried to understand why his blond student was in his house, but before he could say anything a hand came out from behind Naruto grabbing him round the head effectively shutting him up.

"Naruto, he's my roommate," Akari growled squeezing his head and fighting down a blush of embarrassment. There was no doubt in her mind everyone in the building had heard what had just transpired, after all the walls were practically paper thin and if Genma was home she was never going to live this down.

"Huh? Roommate?" he asked, turning his head as much as she would allow him to look at her. She nodded in response and watched him freeze up and start sweating nervously. Turning his head back towards Kakashi he started bubbling out apologies to his teacher.

Chuckling Kakashi gave his usual inverted U eye crinkle smile before asking Naruto why he was in his apartment.

"Oh yeah I almost forgot. I've got something for you," he said pointing towards the box that was still in his teammates hands.

"Something… for me?" Kakashi asked genuinely surprised.

"Well you can open it while we have breakfast," said Akari closing the front door behind her.

"Oh, I was just going to Ichiraku's for breakfast you don…" started Naruto but was cut off by his brunette friend.

"You woke me up early on our day off, the least you can do to make up for it is stay for breakfast, besides ramen hardly constitutes as a healthy start to the day," she said walking down the hall with Kakashi close behind her. Naruto glared after her mumbling something about ramen being healthy anytime of the day but followed her down the hall into the living room non-the-less.

Once there he took a look at his surroundings. The place was neither too big nor too small and it didn't have much furniture in it either, a commodity most ninja didn't need anyway. In fact the living room was mostly clustered with bookshelves all littered with books of various genres and sizes. Against the far wall was a medium sized dark wooden cabinet and above that pinned to the wall rested two scrolls open, one green and one purple but each with the word Kuchiyose written neatly on them. To the side there was a small old television that looked like it had seen better days and in the middle of the room in front of the sofa was a small kotatsu table where Akari was currently setting out plates while Kakashi kept bringing different foods from the kitchen.

"You weren't lying when you said you enjoyed reading," said Naruto pointing at the bookshelves.

Akari looked up and merely nodded. Truth of the matter was only the two bottom shelves of those bookshelves belonged to her the rest of her books were clustered in her room. All the other shelves contained books Kakashi had read and collected over the years however she wasn't about to tell Naruto that. It was a known fact that everybody thought Kakashi only read two books and the guy found a kick out of strengthening the rumour by only being seen in town with said books. Most of the time he was just walking around with a different book camouflaged under a very well performed Henge.

Placing the small box in front of where Kakashi had seated himself she made quick work of ladling food onto her plate.

"Naruto, what exactly is this?" asked Kakashi suspiciously while he looked the box up and down. It seemed innocent enough, but this _was_ Naruto they were talking about.

"Just open it and you'll see" was the reply he got from the blond who was trying to decide between eating fish or chicken legs.

Opening the box with care he stuck his hand inside and retrieved a small pot plant. Akari looked at it while chewing on some rice and noted it was a unique type of plant. It tilted to one side slightly and the way its leaves drooped it gave off the impression of being lazy. The rich green colour only added to its beauty. On the pot written in a scrawl she recognized as Naruto's was the name . Chancing a glance at Kakashi she noted that his face was that of a boy who had received an early Christmas present and then the similarities between the plant and her teacher struck her. It was perfect for him. Looking over towards Naruto she saw he was grinning sheepishly at his sensei's face.

"Glad you like it."

"I didn't know you had a thing for plants," said Akari while picking up a piece of fish with her chopstick.

"I do gardening as a hobby" he said while he placed a mouthful of food into his mouth before his eyes lit up. "This is so good, did you cook this?" he asked the girl sat across from him. She blinked in surprise a couple of times.

"No, it was Kakashi's turn to cook last night."

Turning to face the man sitting next to him who was still holding the pot plant with a look of complete devotion on his face he said "I honestly didn't know you could cook."

Kakashi shrugged before placing the plant on the table and picking up his plate to take it into the kitchen. "I cook to survive that's all, I suppose after living off of ramen anything tastes good."

Naruto watched his retreating figure frowning, 'when did he finish of his meal? I didn't even see him move. Now that I think about it I don't think I've even seen his face.'

Akari inwardly smirked at his befuddled features. He was kind of cute when he was thinking.

Walking back into the room and sitting back in his usual spot Kakashi turned towards Naruto who had his face scrunched up in concentration.

"Your food's getting cold," he pointed out "oh and by the way how often do I need to water this?" he asking fingering one of the green leaves delicately.

"Just a little bit of water every day should do it, I've given you some nutrient packs for the soil which you can use once a month but now that I think about it I should have packed a water sprinkler as well for when we're on missions," he responded with a saddened face.

"No worry no worry," said the older man brushing off Naruto's remorse with a wave of his hand "when we're on missions a cleaning lady comes round the building and keeps the places tidy, I'll just add watering to the list of things to do."

"It's one of the perks of living in the Jounin residence," said Akari with a friendly wink.

"Speaking of which, how come you two live together?"

"I'm her guardian," responded Kakashi flatly before his roommate could interject.

"Guardian?"

"Akari's parents died a few years back and since then I've been her appointed guardian."

Naruto eyed the man suspiciously. He could feel there was something else that he wasn't being told but decided to let it go.

"He says that but he really only uses me to pay off his rent," said Akari solemnly.

"Yeah that sounds like something Kakashi-sensei would do," said Naruto nodding.

"You both know I'm still here right?"

"But I suppose this explains how you always knew when he was going to turn up," said the blond wolfing down the remains on his plate.

"No those were just wild guesses; he's actually always out of the house before I am."

"Who would of thought that were possible."

"I know right? What with his prone tardiness and his lackadaisical manners one would think he just like's to sleep in but no apparently he just likes to keep people waiting.

"Seriously, I'm still here and I can hear you," said Kakashi, glaring daggers at both his students.

"I should probably get going I've gotta do a couple of things before we meet up again this afternoon," said Naruto while getting up completely ignoring the older man. "Thanks for breakfast."

Akari gave Kakashi a pointed stare for a while which he returned determinedly before giving up and rising from his seat.

"Sure I'll walk you out," he said. Coming back a few minutes later he looked around the room to find the table cleared and his roommate gone. The sound of running water soon after told him she was in the shower. Walking over to the table he picked the small plant up and bee lined into his room and placed it beside the photograph of his old team. He smiled fondly at the picture for a while before an idea struck him. Grabbing his book he closed the door behind him before exiting the apartment.

xXx

Walking down the street with his hands behind his head, Naruto stared up into the pale blue sky and the few fluffy clouds that could be seen. He kept thinking over what had transpired between his teammate and his teacher a while ago. Kakashi had openly admitted to being Akari's guardian but something wasn't summing up. What did the loss of ones parents have to do with needing a guardian? Hadn't the Hokage given Naruto his apartment when he was five claiming he was old enough to look after himself? So then why had he appointed Kakashi as Akari's guardian? Another thing that didn't sum up in the young ninja's mind was the timeline. According to Iruka-sensei, Akari's parents had died five years ago making her roughly nine or ten years old and after that she had left the village for two years. So where did that place Kakashi? Had he gone with her?, and if so where had they gone that had drastically changed her when she returned? Being so distracted by his thoughts he failed to notice Sasuke fall into step beside him until he started talking.

"Seems you _are_ capable of thinking, not that you're actually thinking of anything productive."

"The hells that supposed to mean teme?" growled the younger boy coming to a stop while the Uchiha carried on walking.

"Hn."

Jogging slightly to catch up to his partner he set his face into a scowl and resumed his previous stance. "Shouldn't you be somewhere important like I dunno getting stalked by those fan girls of yours?"

"I just bumped into Kakashi," said the dark haired boy coming to a stop at a junction, "he said to tell you to bring your backpack along this afternoon we've just been offered a mission," with that said he turned on his heel and made his way down the right lane. Naruto watched him for a while before continuing down the opposite road. It seemed like some Ichiraku Ramen was in order.

xXx

Akari half carried half dragged the black plastic bag full of garbage down the three floors to the lobby, turning around when she heard someone addressing her.

"Need any help with that?" The voice spoken was a deep rumble that could make any woman melt with anticipation and send shivers down their spine. Akari knew the owner of that voice.

"Shiranui Genma, do you really think I can't manage one bag of rubbish?"

"I dunno you might be disposing of Kakashi's body after his argument with your boyfriend this morning," he answered gleefully falling in step beside her only to be forced to avoid a left hook.

"Oh funny, Genma, really funny," scowled Akari while picking up her pace to reach the dumpsters outside the building as quickly as possible.

"I'm just saying if you're gonna be going out with more than one guy you gotta plan things carefully, and here was me thinking you were adept at your career," he teased while shaking his head in a sign of resignation.

"He isn't my boyfriend Genma, just a teammate who read wrongly into the situation," she said while hoisting the bag into the metal front loader and shutting the lid with a clash.

"Sure he isn't sweetheart," he said grinning, senbon dangling dangerously between his teeth. When she responded by just glaring at him he laughed lightly, "you know I'm just pulling your pigtails."

"You off on a mission?" she asked ignoring his final comment.

"Yeah, I'll be back by the end of the week. What about you lot? You've been off the mission roster for three weeks."

"We just got back from a C-rank turned A-rank yesterday and got profusely reminded by the Hokage why Genins couldn't take C-ranks cos they could easily spiral into disaster. So I'm guessing it's D-ranks for us until Christmas."

"Oh well, tough luck, see ya in a week and tell Kakashi not to miss me too much," he said winking.

Rolling her eyes she grinned and walked off back into the Jounin residence giving a final wave over her shoulder to let the man know they were good. Genma could be a bit of a pain but his joking, teasing manner came as a nice change from Kakashi's daily aloofness, just as long as it wasn't directed at her.

xXx

The sunlight glistened off of his pearly white skin as he sat up straight when he felt the presence of one of his teammates. Leaning his back against the tree behind him he nodded slightly when she waved. He turned to regard her when she sat down next to him under the shade of the tree taking refuge from the heat the early afternoon offered.

"You're early," she said offhandedly while unclasping the restrictive belt tied around her chest, freeing her backpack in the process and dumping it on the ground.

"So are you," he replied.

"It's a nice afternoon, just felt like getting out of the apartment." A pink haired girl suddenly came into view across the field. Akari raised her hand slightly to signal where they were. A couple of minutes later Sakura was sitting next to them and soon after Naruto was with them too. For the most part they sat in silence for a while each enjoying the cool breeze that swept through the trees, until Akari pulled out a pack of cards. That's how Kakashi found them two hours later. Had it been any other day he probably would have scolded them for wasting time instead of training but seeing as they had only gotten back from an A-rank mission yesterday he let it slip. Even Sasuke seemed to be having fun if the snide remarks at Naruto's cries of cheater where anything to go by. When they felt his presence as usual Sakura and Naruto berated him for being late.

"Ah but you see I have a good excuse," he said scratching the back of his head.

"Sure you do, what was it this time a lost kitten?, walked under a ladder?," smirked Sakura.

"No," he stated flatly,"as a matter of fact I went looking for him," he said pointing in the general direction across the field where a man with an old fashion camera stood. They all looked at him bewildered. "I figured it was about time we all got a team photograph taken."

Naruto jumped up in excitement and raced Sakura across the field while the other three walked over. "Come on hurry up!" he waved impatiently.

"It's not like the camera is going anywhere you idiot," replied Sasuke, and just like that the bickering started all over again. If this surprised the camera man at all he didn't show it, instead he proceeded to setup the camera in front of a bench were they all placed themselves ready for their photograph.

xXx

The crickets were particularly loud that night singing their rickety tune that would drive most people crazy but had an odd soothing effect on Akari. She was busying herself by putting her bag away after their mission and was thinking about having a nice warm bath when she pulled something out from one of her bags hidden inside pockets. It was the photograph they had had taken that very afternoon. Smiling at it fondly she walked over to her bedside table and looked determinedly at the photograph of her old team. Rubbing a finger over the glass covering their faces she took a deep breath and removed the picture from the frame before replacing it with her new team. Clutching the old photograph in her right hand she made her way to the front door, slipped on her sandals and walked out. Opting to walk instead of taking the roofs she started making her way to the cemetery located on the outskirts of the village. Once there she stood outside it for a while before taking a deep breath readying herself for the plunge. She had never really been fond of cemeteries. They were cold and sent chills down her spine. Ticking it off as being hyper sensitive she headed towards the shrine where people commemorated the death of those loved ones whose bodies couldn't be brought back home. The walls were littered with pictures, some aging so far back that they were black and white. Finding an unoccupied spot she stuck the photograph on the wall and clasped her hands together in a silent prayer.

'I'm sorry, for not being able to really remember you guys properly or mourn over your deaths and I know I'm being selfish asking this from you but please, watch over my new teammates. I promise I'll do my best to protect them. I've realized I can't keep clinging onto something I can't grasp but I also promise, one day, I'll find out what really happened that day, you can mark my words.'

Having finished she got up and turned to leave when she felt a warm breeze behind her. Turning to face the source of her disturbance she saw a lit candle, its flame dancing merely in the night breeze. Smiling fondly at it she turned around and started making her way home. It was time to let go of those ghosts of her past, but hopefully they would still watch over her in the future.


	5. Let them commence

**A.n: **hi guys, without further ado i leave you chapter 5 :)

**~Let them commence, let them begin it's time for the Chunnin exams~**

The months rolled by swiftly leading into Septembers end, leaving a promise for autumn on the horizon. While the temperatures were still warm and the leaves were still green, there was a slight crispness in the air that only came about this time of year.

"Moo, Kakashi-sensei is late again," Complained Sakura, leaning the front of her body over the bridge railing Team 7 always met up at. They had been waiting for their sensei for two hours now and while this wasn't new to any of them, it didn't make the experience any more enjoyable.

"I swear if we get another D-rank mission I'm gonna end up killing someone," Commented Naruto in a bored tone.

"Roger that," Mumbled Akari and Sasuke in unison as the wind blew through the trees, upsetting leaves in the process and sending them soaring into the air.

…

"Yo!"

"Don't give us "Yo" Kakashi-sensei, dammit you're late again and to top it off we haven't had a decent mission for months, I'm sick of doing D-ranks," whaled Naruto glaring up at the tree branch their teacher was perched on.

"Ah well you'll be glad to hear I've inscribed you all into the upcoming Chunnin exams," He answered with an apathetic face, "Here are your application forms, however it's only a nomination, whether you decide to take the exam or not is up to you," He said while tossing the forms sharply in the direction of his pupils as if they were shuriken.

At the news Naruto burst into a chorus of happy chants while jumping up and down.

"Well anyway, if you're gonna do the exam fill in the forms and be at the Academy for 3p.m in six days' time, room 301. There will be no missions during the week to give you time to think things through. Ja ne," and just like that he was gone in a puff of smoke.

"Sounds interesting, I bet there'll be plenty of strong people to fight against including those Sand ninja we bumped into yesterday," Said Sasuke.

"Now is my time to shine!"

…

They all stared at Sakura surprised. Normally that was her cue to whack Naruto round the back of the head and call him noisy; however she seemed to be spaced out, staring intently down at the paper between her hands.

"Sakura-chan what's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh nothing it's just… Akari-san you've done this exam before haven't you?" She asked turning to question the other female member on the team as they all made their way down the dirt track that would take them back to the village.

"Yeah once, about five years ago but I dropped out halfway through so I can't really tell you what it was like and on top of that the exams change every year to give them more variability."

"Is it… hard?" She asked looking downcast.

"I'm not gonna lie. It is. More than half of the applicants are eliminated before reaching the third part of the exam but hey it's worth the try isn't it?"

'Not if you die in the process,' Thought Sakura solemnly.

"Well I'm off to train then. See you in six days," Said Sasuke before jumping up to the rooftops and disappearing from site.

"Mah, I'm off for some ramen, you coming Akari-chan, Sakura-chan?"

"No, I'm going home," Replied Sakura while she dragged her body into town. The two Genin watched her walking away both off them blinking at the little spirit leaving their teammates body.

"What about you?" He asked turning towards his other female teammate.

"Nah, I'll pass today," She replied before walking off in the opposite direction. She looked down at the piece of paper Kakashi had handed them, reading and re-reading the content neatly typed on it over and over again. "The Chunnin exams huh? Wish I could say 'That takes me back' or something of the sort," She mumbled to herself. "Why did you make it sound as if taking the test were an optional thing?"

A lone figure came to fall into step beside her, his uncovered eye not leaving the surface of the page of his red skinned book. "Simple," He stated as they carried on walking down the market street. After a while in which Akari stared up at the man walking beside her expectantly she decided interrupt his reading once more.

"Penny for a strait forward answer?"

Closing his book with a sharp slap he pocketed it in his back pouch before stuffing both hands into his trouser pockets. "Sakura would take the exam if Sasuke asked her to if they knew only full squads could sit the test." The answer hadn't been as strait forward as she had asked for but coming from Kakashi it had been strait forward enough.

"I'm presuming exceptions have been made throughout the exam for our team?"

"You presume correctly," He answered in a bored voice while avoiding bumping into the passing market people and their carriages filled with assorted goods with the fluidity only someone with shinobi skills could pull off.

"And? What are they then?"

Retrieving his book from its confines he opened it on the last read page and turned to ready himself to jump off onto the bakery roof a brief "You'll see," Was the only reply she got before he disappeared from eyesight. Inhaling the scent of freshly baked bread and pastry she sighed and started making her way home. There was no point in worrying about things to come. She would find out what exceptions had been made soon enough.

xXx

The week practically flew by for the members of team 7 and now they stood together, side by side waiting to enter the room where they were supposed to meet up with all the contestants, the only thing stopping them was a man whom they all knew very well by now.

"It's seems like you have all decided to come. Well done, you can now officially inscribe yourselves for the exam," He said with a smile.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Inquired Sakura.

Kakashi explained that only three man cells could sit the exam, Akari being an added member to the team made them a four man cell but no exceptions were to be made. They either all took the test or none of them would be taking it.

"I'm proud of you all, Naruto, Sakura, Akari and Sasuke. Go show them all how much you've grown," He said letting them pass and watching them walk through the doors, smiling at the looks of determination painted across their faces. He stood there watching the closed doors silently for a while letting his latest discussion with Gai come to the front of his mind.

"_Your being too hasty, it's too early for them Kakashi! Sure Akari has more experience than the other three but you can't throw the rest of your team in their just for her sake!" Said the spandex clad ninja._

"_This isn't about her. Sure she can make one hell of a back up member on a team, but Naruto,Sasuke and Sakura have also grown more than I could have hoped for sinced they were placed under my wing," Answered Kakashi before turning to his so called 'rival' and adding "I won't have you degrading __any __of my students Gai! I've made my decision."_

The yelling from someone in the room brought him out of his thoughts before a series of chuckles escaped his mouth. It seemed even in a situation where they were surrounded by stronger and foreign ninja, Naruto still wanted to be in the center of the spotlight.

xXx

"You guys should really settle down," Said a voice from across the hall. It belonged to a young man whose silver grey hair was tide back in a ponytail; his sharp, dark grey eyes glowed underneath a pair of glasses. Akari, who was currently trying to avoid Sakura killing their blond teammate stopped in a daze as she looked at the man making his way towards them.

"So you're the rookies this year huh? It's been five years since any rookies ever sat the Chunnin exam; looks like things are gonna get interesting. Oh my name's Kabuto by the way," He finished off with a smile.

By now all the assembled rookies were paying attention to the newcomer with varying degrees of curiosity on their faces.

"So, Kabuto? Is this your second time taking the test?" Asked Sasuke with a smirk on his face.

"No, seventh actually. I've been taking the test for the last four years."

"Four years? Man this exam is such a drag," Sighed Shikamaru not liking the prospect of having to attempt the exam again if they failed.

"So then you know all about the exam don't you?" Asked Sakura eagerly, happy to have found a friendly face amongst the crowd.

"You could say that," He answered smiling before turning to regard the brunette standing beside Sakura who was still staring at him with a mixture of concentration and confusion. "Have I got something on my face?"

Coming out of her daze she blushed slightly in embarrassment, "W-what? No it's just… don't I know you?"

Kabuto's eyebrows shot up to his hairline as he blinked in surprise. "Akari-chan you know him?" asked Naruto walking up to stand beside her.

"I dunno… I just feel like I've met him."

"Well we do live in the same village," He said pointing towards the leaf insignia on his forehead protector, "I wouldn't doubt we've bumped into each other on more than one occasion."

"Yeah must be that," she said smiling slightly and putting her worries behind her.

"Well seeing as you _are_ rookies, maybe I should give you some tips on this exam," Said the elder man while retrieving a pack of orange cards from his back pouch.

The group of ten Genin huddled around the elder man who placed his deck on the floor and began explaining a couple of basic things about the exam. The amount of people taking the test, where they came from, how many people from each village had come etc. When Sasuke asked about information on certain ninja the group's interest peaked and they all concentrated on the two cards placed in front of them on the floor containing information on Rock Lee and Gaara of the Sand.

"Well then I want to see the information you have on Team 7 newest member," Grinned a boy who had a small white dog tucked into his jacket and went by the name of Inuzuka Kiba.

"Oi wait a minute Kiba you have no right to go researching information on our teammate!" Blurted out Naruto pointing an accusing finger at the taller boy.

"Says who dumbass? Sasuke got the information he wanted why can't the rest of us get to know what we want?" Growled out the dog boy.

"What did you say?" Said Naruto glaring daggers at his old classmate.

"You know you could just ask me if you really want to know," Interrupted Akari.

"But Akari-chan he's the enemy," Whined her blond teammate.

"Really I don't mind, and Kabuto won't have any information on me anyway, the last time I sat this exam was five years ago."

"Actually," Interrupted the man's voice from behind them making them all turn to stare down at him on the floor, "I do have something," he finished off smiling, holding up a single card in his hand before placing it on the floor and activating the cards content with his chakra.

"Seishin Akari, second time taking the exam, nothing extraordinary in the stats, completed 24 D-rank missions and 3 C-rank. Only interesting fact would be you have a bloodline limit and the fact that you graduated from the academy when you were eight," Said Kabuto interpreting the grid and information on the card for them.

"Graduated when she was eight and still a Genin, like I thought team 7 aren't gonna be a threat to us, right Akamaru?"

"What did you say Kiba!" Growled Naruto pouncing on him. While a couple of members tried to separate the two quarrelling teens Akari dropped down on her knees and picked the card containing the information on her up.

"How do you know all of this?"

"If I told you how I get my information it wouldn't be so impressive now would it?" He answered with a smile while packing the deck of cards away. Akari watched him rise to his feet and make his way over to the squabbling group all the while repressing the gut feeling telling her something was wrong.

xXx

The sun was only just starting to set in the distance and the usually busy market was getting ready to close as the towns people made their way home after a busy day of work and yet there were still those who were out and about. Mostly ninja, heading over to the Hokage office or setting off on a mission. Maybe even a few just coming back from one. There was one particular group sitting at the ramen stand each enjoying a bowl of warm, freshly cooked noodles while they talked and laughed and waited for their sensei to turn up.

"We made it out of the first part no sweat right?" Said Naruto slurpping noisily on his food.

"You idiot, you didn't even realize we were supposed to copy each other," Smirked Sasuke.

"I really panicked when they said if one of use failed the whole group failed," Chimed in the pink haired member of the group while fishing out a prawn from her bowl of spicy prawn ramen.

"I know right, and when they told us our questions were only worth half a point each cos we were a four man team? But Sakura your amazing to have answered all the questions on your own, I only managed to get through six before really struggling and I'm older than you."

The younger girl blushed slightly at the compliment and smiled at her companion.

"Sakura-chan always got the highest results when we were in the academy, nobody could compete with her," Said Naruto grinning fondly.

"Mah mah it's really not that big a deal," Said the girl now turning a deep crimson and scratching the back of her head.

"Those questions wouldn't be able to be answered by any ordinary Genin so you _should_ feel proud of yourself," Said the deep calm voice of the man they had been waiting for.

"Yo, Kakashi-sensei take a seat," Said Naruto while making room for their teacher between Akari and himself.

"Don't mind if I do," He answered, signaling to Teuchi to prepare him a bowl before taking the seat offered to him.

"So where is the second part of the exam going to be?" Asked Sasuke finishing off his bowl and paying for his share of the meal.

"Training ground 44 at 11 a.m is where you have to meet up with Anko," He answered snapping his chopsticks open.

"Do you know where it is Sasuke-kun?"

"It's on the far east of the village if I'm not mistaken…" Naruto joined in their conversation leaving Kakashi unknowingly to finish of his meal.

"Training ground 44, isn't that also known as The forest of death?" Asked Akari scooping up a load of ramen noodles between her chopsticks before placing them in her mouth.

"Oh? You've been there before?" Asked Kakashi replacing his mask over his face without anybody in the vicinity even noticing he'd removed it.

"Hmm I vaguely remember going there once years ago with my mum. I think she wanted to teach me how there was no force more powerfull than nature or something like that… you know to get a grip on my gift better… I dunno the memories are kinda mixed up."

The silence that preceded their conversation was a comfortable one as Akari still slurped down her noodles and Kakashi watched his team converse with each other. "See you later I suppose," He said quietly to the girl sitting next to him as he rose to his feet.

"Yeah sure thing just leave your money on the counter," She replied while blowing on another load of noodles. "Kakashi?" Turning she realized his seat was empty, the person closest to her now being Naruto who was still huddled in conversation with his two teammates. 'That guy sure is quick to get away from paying bills' she thought while she kept on eating her bowl of food almost choking when Sasuke and Sakura announced they were leaving to get a good nights sleep.

"Well I guess it's just you and me Akari-chan," Said Naruto turning in his seat to find the rest of the stools empty and Teuchi collecting up what he presumed to be Akari's bill. 'Hmph well that was rude, she could of at least said goodbye'. "Teuchi-osan the bill please!"

"Here you go Naruto," Said the old man happily while taking away Naruto's pile of neatly stacked bowls.

The younger boy looked at the piece of paper befudled for a minute before pointing out that he had only had four bowls and there where five written down on his bill.

"Oh that's your teachers bowl, he said one of you where inviting him and seeing as you're the last one to leave…"

"HE WHAAT?" In the distanced the cries of a crow could be herd shouting out Baka as the sun dipped below the horizon signaling the end of another day.

xXx

11a.m couldn't have come any sooner for the participants that had passed the first part of the exam and now, all 26 teams stood in front a giant wired fence surrounding a forest, the signs of 'Danger' and 'Do not trespass' promissing a painfull death to those who entered foolishly unprepared.

"This is where you will be taking the second part of this exam, I'll only explain the rules once so pay attention!" Boomed Anko's voice across the field. She really didn't need to raise her voice. Any Genin leveled ninja would be foolish to cross her. In a way she was even more of a sadist than Ibiki.

"You will now pass through this curtained area where you will receive your scroll and sign the form accepting the risks present in this exam!" One by one the teams were led in through the deep red curtains, given a form to sign, handed their scroll to protect throughout the exam and told which gate number to place themselves in front of. When team 7 was called forth thay all huddled together in the small area and signed their death warrant.

"Ah you're the four man squad we've had to make exceptions for, Kakashi's group," Smiled Anko coyly while stamping their signed forms and placing them in the pile with the rest of the signatures. "I'm afraid you don't get a scroll, now move along to gate number 12."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE DON'T GET A MPHF…"Began Naruto before Sasuke slapped his hand over his mouth.

"Why don't we get a scroll Anko-sensei?" Asked Sakura perplexed.

"You're a four man squad, you have the advantage of number over the rest of the teams therefore you don't get a scroll."

"But, but then we're in a major disadvantage!" Complained Naruto.

"Not really, if you think about it, we have the advantage that no other team knows we don't have a scroll. Therefore any first team to cross our path is gonna have a scroll we need regardless of weather it's an Earth or a Heaven scroll," Explained Akari.

"Well there you have it, a simple explanation to a stupid complaint, now move along the que's waiting," Finished off Anko in a bored tone shooing them away with a wave of her hand.

…

"I still don't like the idea of not having a scroll" Mumbled Naruto while they positioned themselves in front of their designated gate.

"We can't do anything about it Naruto, at least we outnumber all the other teams right?" Said Sakura.

"Numbers don't always make up for cuality," Stated Sasuke as he looked up at the gates. Although he had most probably said it as an offhand statement it hit Sakura like a tone of bricks. Right now she knew she was the weakest link in the team. Sure she had gotten through the first part of the exam relatively easily but what good would her inmense knowledge do in a survival test. What exactly could she do to help her team?

xXx

Not five minutes into the test and trouble had cropped up for the four man squad forcing them to be sepparated from one another and to fight of an enemy ninja as best they could. Since then half an hour had passed before team 7 had manged to re-group on safe terrain and now they sat huddled together in a close circle. Between them they had managed to make the Rain ninja flee the battle field looking for his teammates but they had been lucky for him to have been on his own. That brief battle had been enough to prove just how dangerous this exam really was. They couldn't let their guard down anymore. It was time to get serious.

"We'll have a password from now on. If we split up we'll use it to recognize each other. If one of us doesn't know the password we'll assume they're an enemy. Listen carefully, I won't repeat it a second time," Said Sasuke.

As he dictated the password to them Akari couldn't help but notice the absurdly long password he was choosing to use. He was also staring intently at her as if asking for her approval on something. Her eyes widened slightly when she felt something. Moving her hand onto the ground to confirm her worries she felt it again. Something was hiding close by under the soil and was most probably listening to their conversation. Giving a barely percieved nod she observed Sasuke's body language. He had understood her answer just like she had understood his questioning gaze. He had been asking her to confirm the situation. They were being watched.

"From now on I'll be taking the scroll," Said the raven haired boy while getting to his feet.

Their blond teammates clamor of confusion was cut short as something sharp pierced itself through the air slashing his right cheek lightly. They all looked at the direction of the attack readying themselves for another battle. Instead they just heard a slight whaling sound getting louder and louder and before any of them could react a gush of wind bashed straight into them sending them all flying in diferent directions far away from each other. Three figures emerged from the underbush once the attack weared off, each bearing the insignia of the Hidden Grass.

"You two take care of the brown haired girl, I don't want her interfearing, I'll have my fun with these three," Said the female figure licking her lips with an abnormally long tongue.

xXx

In some remote area of the forest a girl with pigtails was getting to her feet, stumbling slightly against the bushes that got in her way.

"The hell, that was an A-rank wind technique at the least. No Genin should be able to use that strong of a technique. Even with wind nature it would be extreamly hard." A crisp, hardly audiable sound had her turning around and staring up at two figures who were standing side by side on a tree branch looking down at her.

"Heh, sorry guys but I don't have what your looking for," She said smirking although on the inside she as measuring the situation. 'This is bad, I'm outnumbered and I don't even know where the rest of my teammates are. These guys don't seem like the type to care whether I have a scroll or not, they're probably just looking for a fight.' Inching her hand towards her back pouch she pulled out a kunai and threw it just in time to deflect the one that was coming towards her midway, except hers had an explosive tag tide to it. Once it went off, it sent smoke, flames and dust swirling around the inminent area giving her time to jump to the tree branches to attempt an escape.

Jumping from branch to branch hastily she knew she was being tailed closely. One explosive tag wasn't going to be enough to ward off two enemy nin. Especially not if one of them had created that wind jutsu earlier on. Something to her left caught her attention and she stopped the enemy ninjas punch just in time keeping their right hand locked in hers and vice versa leaving her left side unguarded. The tallest of the two men suddenly came into view, kunai in hand aiming for her ribcage.

Acting upon instinct, Akari bashed her forhead againts her restrainers nose making him let go of her and ennabling her to jump to the ground just in time to avoid the sharp blade coming at her. Panting she ran, zigzaging past the trees only turning when she felt one of her attackers right behind her to either block or dodge an attack. All she could do in this situation was avoid getting hit. She hated to admit it, but their teamwork was impecable. While one kept her distracted and created openings the other jumped in aiming to draw blood and yet neither one of them seemed to be seriously attempting to kill her. In fact, they were mainly using taijutsu and weapons. Her eyes widened slightly before turning into a sharp glare as she realized what they were doing. They were toying with her.

"Oh you wanna play, I can play then," She mumbled angrily to herself as she jumped high to avoid yet another blade, summersaulting in mid air and landing on a tree branch placing some distance between them. Getting serious she pulled out a load of wire and threw it in various directions tide to sepparate kunai creating a web of thin, barely noticible metal. If someone was to rush through it fast enough they could lose a limb or two. Withdrawing another explosive tag from her pouch she attatched it to a kunai and threw it at the trees above the two men. The blast sent piles of rubble crashing down, the only safe place being the wired net in front of them. As predicted both ninja jumped, avoiding the wire as if it were childs play and landed on the ground.

"I'm not finished yet! Seishinryoku!" Akari yelled, eyes flashing brightly she took control of the falling rubble and sharp wood and directed it straight into her opponents. Not waiting to see how hurt they were she jumped back the way she came fully intending to find her teammates when an earth pillar shot up from the ground hitting her right in the stomach and sending her flying backwards. Crashing down onto the ground she lay sprawled were she had fallen clutching her abdomen in pain. Opening her eyes at the sound of nearing footsteps, she stared angrily at the sight of her persuers. Neither of them had a single scratch on them. Panting, Akari rose to her feet, her knees shaking slightly due to the pain she was still experiencing.

'An earth jutsu. I bet they created a dome to protect them from my earlier attack too. Dammit if they're gonna start using ninjutsu it's over, I can't possibly take them both on. The more I use my bloodline limit the weaker I get and if I can't ensure a direct hit it's pointless,' she thought to herself as she glared at them trying not to let panic block her. 'I've got no other choice, I'm gonna have to use _that'. _A memory came crashing to the front of her mind as soon as she processed her thoughts.

_A twelve year old version of herself sat alone staring at the horizon as the setting sun stained the sky deep reds and purples. An older figure came walking up behind her and stopped midway._

"_You did well training today. You managed to last longer using your bloodline limit than you did the other day," Spoke the newcomers voice in a calm soothing tone. "But you know you could last even longer if you combined it with…"_

"_I'm not using my mother's gift Kakashi. Ever. My teammates…my family… they were all killed because I posses the same gift as her. The only difference was I was naïve enough to let myself get lured into a trap. By represing that power im just Seishin Akari, a halfblood from the Seishin clan who can't even control her bloodline limit to it's full extent. Nothing special and certainly nothing that could possibly interest anyone."_

"_Represing them won't make them go away you know, and one day, you'll have teammates you'll want to protect and you'll be stuck at a crossroads because you can't accept who you really are," He said before turning his back on her and walking away, coming to a stop a while later. "Think about it…you can't be someone you're not."_

The two enemy nin were now standing directly in front of her. Each step they took forward, Akari took one back. 'It's imposible I can't, I promised myself I wouldn't.' Her worrying came to an abrupt stop when she felt a heavy vine quickly rap itself around her waist, trapping her arms to her sides in the process. Turning her head she looked upon her restrainer and gasped loudly.

The thick vines were coming from a bright blue petaled flower scarred with red spots here and there and in the middle of the flower, were the polen would be in an ordinary plant, were sharp needle like teeth the size of kunai's. She had been so preocupied about running away from the two enemy ninja she hadn't realized she had walked straight into the territory of one of Training ground 44's most dangerous predators. A huge _Rafflesia ciliata _plant well known for being able to take down even the biggest creatures dwelling inside the forest. While it's striking petal colors warned any animal of it's dangerous nature, the _Rafflesia ciliata _was always closed, camuflaging its giant leaves as a rock and only opening them when it was about to devour it's prey. It had most probably picked up the vibrations in the ground created by their footsteps and attacked once they were close enough.

The deep chuckling brought her back to her senses as she focused on the enemy in front of her. She pushed chakra into the soles of her feet to stop her progress towards the plants sharp teeth but the more she struggled the more vines rapped around her.

"You've known all along I don't have a scroll and now you're just gonna let a plant kill me? What the heck was the point of chasing me down if you weren't gonna kill me yourselves?" She spat out, angry at herself for having been cornered so stupidly, angry and the two ninja standing in front of her smirking, but most of all she was angry about the fact that right now she felt so useless.

"It had it's purpose," Said the tallest of the two as he lifted his straw hat slightly, a Hidden Grass insignia flashing on his forehead.

"We were just obeying orders," Said the other as they both turned around and started walking away.

"Wait! Orders from who? Neither of you are Genin level so then who the heck are you?" She growled to no avail as they jumped off into the distance. No sooner had she watched them dissapear than the plant behind her started releasing large amounts of orange dust into the air. 'Paralizer? I've got to get out of here.'

As the paralizer kicked in she felt her chakra flow to her feet stop and felt her feet drag against the soil as the vines pulled her closer towards the center of the flower. With the last of her strength she pulled out the last exploding tag she had and hesitated for a few seconds.

"_Well I think you're acting like a hypocrite"_

"_What the hell would you know? Just because I'm sensitive to nature doesn't mean I was attempting to control anything so don't go spouting nonsense about things you don't understand!"_

"_You can't attempt to run away all your life; your parent's wouldn't have wanted this."_

Gritting her teeth together and closing her eyes as she felt the foul breath of the plant sweeping over her back she pushed chakra into the paper activating it. 'Don't fail me now…mum.'

A pillar of smoke and flames rose around the plant but no explosion or shockwave was set off. The giant creature flailed and shook in the heat emitting a high pitched screaching sound as it's whole being was consumed by the flames. From withing the curtains of smoke, Akari stumbled out coughing and spluttering and covered in soot. Looking down at her arms she realized most of the paralizer had been burned off enabling her to move again. Dusting herself down she set off quickly to track down her teammates. Hopefully they wouldn't be too far away and in no inminent danger.

xXx

Possibly the most earie thing about The forest of death was the silence that dwelled withing it. It covered the area like a dense fog, engulfing whatever crossed it's path. That's why whenever a sound pierced through the silence it was enough to make the hairs on the back of ones neck stand up straight and send chills down their spine, because whenever a sound did pierce through the silence, it was normally the sound of death pouncing down on it's prey leaving an even more nerve racking silence behind it.

A young Uchiha boy stood high up on a tree branch panting after what was possibly the most fierce battle he had ever experienced. Sweat coated his face as he clutched his knees trying to steady his breathing.

"Sasuke-kuun! Are you okay?" Asked his pinked haired teammate as she landed beside him. He had fought brilliantly after Naruto had been defeated by the Grass kunoichi that had approached them after being split up by the gush of wind and now all of them minus one were reunited clearly looking worse for wear.

"Go get Naruto, we need to find Akari and get the hell out of here," Panted the teenage boy. Sakura nodded, getting up she dusted herself off when strange snapping sound cought their attention before they turned and found themselves imobilized.

'Kanashibari no Jutsu?'Thought Sasuke to himself as he struggled against the invisible restraints holding him in place.

"You really are brothers after all aren't you? I can see a potencial in your eyes that surpasses Itachi's," drawled the voice from the kunoichi Sasuke had just defeated except now it was a masculine voice that dripped sadistic excitement from every syllable.

Sasuke stopped struggling at the words spoken by their captor and looked up to the face of the young Grass kunoichi, whose facial skin was melting due to his previous fire attack and whose forehead protector now bore the mark of Hidden Sound. "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Orochimaru," He said, "if you wish to see me again you'll have to pass this exam along with my three subordinates."

"What the hell are you talking about? We never want to see your face again!" Yelled Sakura.

"Hn, it doesn't work like that," Drawled the older man. Creating a seal with his hands his neck shot out, lengthening itself and gliding through the air towards Sasuke like a snake would slither to it's prey. A disturbance in the light breaking through the leaves to his left cought his attention. Smirking he saw the attack coming but decided not to intervene letting the swift kick hit him squarely in the jaw sending his face rocketing backwards. With the paralysing jutsu broken, Sasuke and Sakura stumbled slightly in surprise before glueing themselves to the surface of the branch with their chakra as they watched the figure of their missing teammate land on a branch a few meters ahead of them.

"Akari-san!"

"Akari! This guy, he's…"

"Sasuke, Sakura, grab Naruto and get the hell out of here!"

"What are you saying?" Yelled back Sakura truthfully frightened at the anger in her female companions voice.

"Akari don't be stupid you can't defeat a guy like him alone!"

"That's exactly why I'm telling you to get the hell out of here!" She growled

A low rumble of laughter brought their attention back to the man standing in front of them. Clicking his neck joints back in place, Orochimaru fought back the fit of hysteria that was threatening to consume him. "And here was me hoping It'd all be over by the time you showed up."

"You sent those two Grass ninja after me didn't you?" Snarled Akari, her eyes roaming around the area trying to devise an escape plan.

"Sound ninja actually," He corrected, smiling coyly at the girl glaring at him. "I must say I'm disapointed Akari-_chan_, was a kick to the face really neccesary? It's been what? A year maybe two?"

"Nearly three," She answered back in a low hiss, "I was hoping to add more time to the counter before seeing you again but it seems we just can't stop our paths bumping into each other can we? Orochimaru!"

**A.n:** CLIFFHANGER :3 don't you just love me ;)


	6. Worst fears confirmed, get to the tower!

**A.n: I know it's been ages so without further i leave you chapter 6.**

_~Previously~_

A low rumble of laughter brought their attention back to the man standing in front of them. Clicking his neck joints back in place, Orochimaru fought back the fit of hysteria that was threatening to consume him. "And here was me hoping It'd all be over by the time you showed up."

"You sent those two Grass ninja after me didn't you?" Snarled Akari, her eyes roaming around the area trying to devise an escape plan.

"Sound ninja actually," He corrected, smiling coyly at the girl glaring at him. "I must say I'm disapointed Akari-_chan_, was a kick to the face really neccesary? It's been what? A year, maybe two?"

"Nearly three," She answered back in a low hiss, "I was hoping to add more time to the counter before seeing you again but it seems we just can't stop our paths bumping into each other can we? Orochimaru!"

**~Worst fears confirmed, make it to the tower under 24 hours! ~**

Amongst the dense canopy of forest terrain a few cackles of crows could be heard as the sun made its way west preparing to disappear on the horizon and bathe the earth in darkness. Standing on thick tree branches someplace inside the forest were four ninja, all standing tense, except for the eldest male who seemed to be enjoying himself. Akari glared at the man standing in front of her straight in the eye not blinking at all as she awaited his next move.

Orochimaru smiled at the girl crouching in front of him. "Sorry to burst your bubble but I'm actually not here for you. What interests me is the boy standing behind you," He said breaking the thick silence.

'He's after Sasuke?' She thought, as she erased the surprised look that adorned her face as quickly as it had come. Stealthily she placed herself in a position where she was guarding her male teammate better. "What business do you have with Sasuke?"

"He just happens to have something I want," Replied the elder man, his smirk remaining firmly in place showing off a set of pearly white teeth and fangs. His lackadaisical attitude stated just how confident he was in his strength to be able to talk calmly to four opponents without a care in the world.

Akari grit her teeth in anger at his response. "You haven't changed at all have you, you sick bastard? People aren't yours to use and then throw away! I won't let you ruin his life like you did mine…" she broke off, firsts shaking slightly with uncontrolled anger. Taking a deep breath she carried on in a low voice, "that day… five years ago, you killed my parents and my teammates didn't you?"

Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. Neither of them had known their fellow teammate was an orphan.

'She's always so calm and collected, how were we supposed to know?' Thought Sakura feeling guilty for not having established a better relationship with the girl protecting her.

'She's just like me,' Thought Sasuke, 'All these years she's been tormented by the shadow of this man just like I have by my brother's.'

"Now, now don't go jumping to conclusions," Began Orochimaru, "I didn't lay a hand on any of them."

"Liar," She growled barely controlling her temper, "It was all a setup… don't tell me it was a coincidence… their death and you appearing offering me a way out. You planned it all just to be able to use me!"

Nobody spoke or moved for a while and once again the silence began to thicken making it impossible to breath, or rather giving them the feeling that if they did breath, the whole world would shatter around them. After what seemed like an eternity Orochimaru carried on.

"That's true, but like I said I didn't lay.-"

"JUST BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T PERSONALLY KILL THEM IT DOESN'T MAKE YOU ANY LESS GUILTY!" bellowed Akari across the clearing freighting the life out of her two teammates. They had never seen her this riled up before, she was always the one getting them to calm down.

'She's scary…' Thought Sakura, 'this is nothing like when we fought Zabuza, she's gone completely mad… her chakra signature is heavier too… to be able to feel the hatred seeping out of her like this, who exactly is this guy?'

Straightening up after the brunette's outburst, Orochimaru proceeded talking in his own calm sombre voice. "You talk big… but you're weaker than the last time we met. D'you really think you can keep Sasuke-kun away from me?"

"My strength is none of your damn business, how the hell would you know whether I've gotten stronger or not?" She yelled infuriated by his cocky attitude. She was taking deep breaths now trying to calm herself down. No one had ever made her this mad before and she hated the feeling of being controlled by the man's mere presence.

"I know you haven't used that 'gift' of yours since you came crawling back here," He sneered enjoying the effect he was having on the girl in front of him, "I know you're living with Hatake Kakashi for, what was it they said… oh yes for your protection and in the hopes of triggering your memory," he finished off with a cold laugh ripping off what was left of the fake melted face he had been adorning all along.

'Crawling back? Living with Kakashi? What the hell is going on here?' thought Sasuke, eyes darting from the man standing meters away from them to his teammates back.

Akari took a step back in surprise; the fists that had been clenched at her sides in anger were now trembling with slight fear. "You've been spying on me?" She asked hating the way her voice sounded weaker than what she had intended.

"No, no my dear girl, like I said I am no longer interested in you. I've been spying on Konoha, you just happen to live here. Now if you'll excuse me I'm in a bit of a hurry," He said flicking his tongue around his lips.

Body reacting instinctively she re-enforced her defensive position. There was no way in hell she'd let him get to Sasuke if she could avoid it. She knew she wouldn't stand a chance against him in a fight but if she could just earn them some time. Without turning around she bellowed behind her, "Why are you still here? I told you to get Naruto and run!"

Snapping out of his daze, Sasuke nodded and turned to face Sakura who was still trembling slightly on the tree branch beside him when he felt his body freeze up again.

"Not so fast," Whispered Orochimaru, thoroughly amused by the outturn of events. "Are you really gonna get in my way, Akari-chan?"

Growling darkly, Akari stared him straight in the eye. "You can't have him."

Orochimaru lowered his gaze to stare at his feet and started chuckling. "So be it," He whispered before raising his head to meet Akari's penetrating glare with one of his own.

A sharp pain shot through her left shoulder abruptly, sending shockwaves down her spine. Knees giving in, she collapsed onto the branch clutching her shoulder, gritting her teeth against the pain that had her paralysed. A gush of wind against her cheek and the surprised gasp of 'Sasuke-kun' she heard behind her told her Orochimaru had probably just branded her teammate with the same mark she had on her own shoulder.

Hands shaking she grabbed a kunai from her pouch and aimed it for the elongated neck beside her when a strong grip around her wrist made her gasp in surprise. Orochimaru had pulled his body towards his head instead of the other way round and blocked her attack in the process. He wasn't called a legendary sannin for no reason.

"We'll have none of that," He said when his neck shrank back to its normal size. His tightening grip on her wrist had her palm opening up involuntarily letting the knife fall against the wood with a soft thud.

"You won't get away with this," She grit out staring up at the face of the man that had turned her world upside down.

Lowering his face so it was level with her ear he whispered darkly; "I believe… I already have." He released her suddenly causing her to stumble slightly in surprise but before she could properly get a grip on her surroundings a swift kick to her chest sent her falling down into the underbrush. He watched her fall down through the foliage with an apathetic expression adorning his face. "And when I'm done with this, not even the Hokage will be able to stand up against me."

Akari managed to grab onto a thick protruding branch. Panting slightly she melded chakra into her hands to stop herself from slipping when the seal on her left shoulder shot another surge of pain through her. Unable to meld any chakra she felt the last of her strength leave her as she fell down into the eternal darkness of the forest ground. All she could do was feel her body crash and slip against more protruding tree branches before slumping onto the hard ground with a resounding slap.

She lay there for a while against the cold dirt catching her breath feeling the throbbing pain in her shoulder reside slowly. Even from down here, she could hear Sakura crying and asking for help, but she knew they were alone now. Dragging herself to her feet ignoring her aching muscles she ran up the length of the trees until she made it back to her teammate's side.

"A-Akari-san, Sasuke-kun was…" stammered the girl chocking back her tears.

"C'mon, I'll get Naruto. We have to find somewhere to spend the night."

XxX

However dangerous The forest of Death was during the day, it was all the creepier at night when the darkness that covered the area was blinding and when all the nocturnal creatures hunted. Crickets could be heard throughout the area only stopping their singing when something disturbed them.

Akari and Sakura had managed to find shelter easily enough not far from where they had fought Orochimaru. They were using the giant tree roots as a means of protection from any possible enemies.

Exiting their hiding place after placing a wet cloth over Sasuke's forehead and making sure Naruto was comfortable, Sakura stood behind her teammate who was staring up at the treeline.

"Naruto seems fine but Sasuke-kun is still burning up." The girl in front of her nodded in understanding. "That guy… Orochimaru, what did he do to Sasuke-kun, what is that mark on his neck doing to him?"

"Sakura, can I trust you to look after them?"

"Huh? Of course you can trust me we're team… why does it sound like you're leaving?" asked the younger girl panic threading her voice.

"That man… he's an S-class criminal; I have to inform someone about him. Right now that takes priority over the exam."

Sakura stood stock still trembling slightly as she listened to her teammate, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "Y-you c-can't leave me alone here… what if someone attacks us while you're away? I can't protect them on my own I'm weaker than you, I'm the weakest mem-"

"Sakura listen to me," Said Akari fiercely turning around and gripping her friend by the shoulders. "You are not weak! I'm not abandoning you do you understand? I just need to find someone and tell them what's going on, it's my job as a Konoha kunoichi but I need to be positive that I can leave you alone for a while."

"B-but I can't do anything for them," Sobbed the girl in her arms.

"We stopped playing ninja when we graduated from the Academy, this is our _job_. Naruto, Sasuke, both of them need you, _I_ need you. Remember what I told you shortly after we became teammates?"

Sakura blinked the tears away as she remembered their first proper training session together.

"_Sakura, you completely lack confidence and strength. You're not comfortable in your own skin when fighting fearing that you'll make a complete fool of yourself when in fact you could be capable of fighting just as well as Sasuke or Naruto."_

"I meant every word that day," Said Akari staring her teammate in the eyes. "Show me I wasn't wrong."

Getting some strength from her teammate's words she remembered every time Naruto and Sasuke had protected her and set her face into a firm look.

"How long will you be gone?"

Akari smiled at the determination that flashed behind the girl's eyes before releasing her and turning around to face the treeline again.

"I'll head to the tower, if I don't run into an examiner or get to the tower in 24 hours I'll come back. I promise." Giving Sakura a final stare down to make sure the younger girl would be okay she turned and jumped up into the tree tops, jumping swiftly from branch to branch. It was quicker than zigzagging around all the trees from the ground and safer.

A couple of times she'd hear running footsteps of predators stalking her but her shinobi skills and speed allowed her to get away quick enough. It didn't matter what she bumped into as long as she kept running in the general direction of the centre tower.

XxX

Eight hours had passed since Akari had left Naruto and Sasuke in Sakura's care and now a full moon glowed brightly ahead. In a couple of hours the sun would be rising and four kilometres still separated the girl from her objective. She had been running non-stop from the start which any shinobi could manage to do easily enough. It was knowing when to steer clear of areas to avoid enemy ninja that was becoming increasingly tiring. Avoiding wild animals was one thing. Avoiding shinobi was another and Orochimaru had said there were Sound ninja among the candidates. If they were like the two 'Grass nin' she had had to fight she'd never make it to the tower if she bumped into them.

Running out onto a clearing she sighed in relief when she saw the people she had been desperately trying to find.

"Anko-san!"

The three figures across the field turned when they heard someone shouting out to them. They watched the figure of a young girl making her way towards them sporting a few tears in the fabric of her shinobi attire. She looked like she had been running for quite a while.

"What are you doing here? Where are your teammates?" Asked one of the Anbu agents, his mask covering his face as was normal.

"Orochimaru is back," said Akari ignoring the masked man and speaking directly to Anko. Silence surrounded the area for a while, the only sound being heard was the grass and leaves moving in the wind.

"We know. I found him in the forest a few hours ago," Said the older woman in a calm voice.

"So then the exam…"

"The exam shall continue," She said cutting her off.

"Huh? But why?"

"My orders! Now go back with the rest of your team," She replied while turning her back on the younger girl.

Akari clenched her fists and ran around the three figures blocking their path. "He gave one of my teammates the cursed mark Anko, _you_ better than anybody should know what that means! Have you forgotten what it did to you? Have you forgotten what it did to me five years ago?"

The two Anbu men shifted slightly in surprise. Neither of them had been informed a candidate had been bitten. Anko had a lot of explaining to do when they met up with the Hokage in the tower.

"Listen Akari, right now you have to focus on getting through this test, I appreciate you coming all this way just to inform us, but this is something us Jounin have to take care of. Go back to your teammates. They need you," she said firmly, staring the girl down. The determined glint in her eyes was remarkable for a girl her age. Kakashi had taught her well.

Nodding in understanding, the younger girl walked past them before turning into a blur as she sped towards the treeline.

Anko watched her leave and remained staring at the forest for a couple of seconds after she had vanished. They had known each other for a few years now. When Akari returned to the village the Hokage had personally asked her to help the girl out and give her some advice but in the end it was Kakashi she ended up with. She smiled a little before addressing the Anbu nin and began the few kilometres left to the tower. It wasn't that she disliked the girl, far from it. She just couldn't help her right now. If anyone was to report her having received help from an examiner her whole team would be disqualified and as much as she wanted to check up on the Uchiha boy, there were more pressing matters to attend to.

XxX

His white eyes stared down at the scene before him. Two teams were bustled in the area and neither of them interested him much. He'd just come along to find his lost teammate which his female companion was currently attending to on the ground below him. Feeling the added weight on the tree branch he was perched on he turned to regard the newcomer. Her clothes were scratched in some places and she looked thoroughly worn out but on the whole unharmed.

"Thank god they're alright," Akari panted as she stared down at team 7 and team 10 alongside Tenten and Lee.

"They were lucky to have backup in the imminent area," said the long haired boy standing beside her, "just a while ago there were three Sound nin here, Sasuke scared them off though. They left their Earth scroll as compensation for letting them live. You have an interesting teammate."

'Sasuke was going to kill them? The cursed seal seems to have taken its toll on his body and mind. Damn you Orochimaru, messing around with people like this,' thought the older girl.

"Thanks for helping them out," She said.

"We didn't, we only came looking for Lee. It was that other bunch of weaklings that helped."

Akari stared at him for a while before looking down once again at the members of team 10. "Either way, you still came. I'm grateful," She said before jumping down onto the ground below to help her teammates. It was going to take them a while to recover from everything that had happened, but as long as they remained together, they could pull through anything.

XxX

It had taken them five days to make it through the second part of the exam but now team 7 stood in a single file alongside the other 25 contestants in the centre tower. They had used two days to recover after Orochimaru's attack leaving them with only 26 hours to get the second scroll and make it to the tower. In fact, if Kabuto hadn't shown up they probably wouldn't have made it.

"V-very well…I will proceed to explain the rules…of these preliminary… battles, but first, if anyone isn't feeling well enough to fight… they may leave now," explained a young looking examiner between constant coughing fits.

The crowd of contestants talked amongst themselves after Hayate's speech, each deciding whether they would carry on or not. Akari could hear Sakura pleading with Sasuke to drop out. His curse seal had been acting up recently making it difficult for him to fight. Akari's seal had also reacted a couple of times when she had used a lot of chakra in one go but it was nothing compared to the way Sasuke's seal was hurting him. Opting to tune out their argument she looked over at the other participants. Five teams from Konoha had passed including their own. Sakura had identified the Sound team as the group that had attacked her when she was on her own. That left one team from Sand and the furthest team away from them was one she recognized from Kumogakure, Hidden cloud. Even without being able to see their forehead protectors she would recognize that toasted brown skin anywhere.

It was funny how each nation could be recognized by simple features such as skin tone. Konoha was sunny all year through giving the citizens a nice sun kissed skin, whereas the sun in Suna was too strong to be able to be under without protection giving the citizens creamy pale skin. Hidden Cloud had a funny type of sunlight. It was treacherous, toasting Kumo's citizens skin a warm brown colour without them even realizing it.

"I give up. I don't want to carry on," said Kabuto in a cheery voice with his hand raised in the air.

It took Naruto some time to accept his decision, the young man had after all helped them out since the start of the Chunnin exams but in the end he let him go.

"We give up too," Came a female voice on the opposite side of the room. It belonged to the only girl on the team from Hidden Cloud. With people turning to stare at them Akari could now properly appreciate her features. She had long black wavy hair and rich teal coloured eyes. Combined with her naturally suntanned skin she gave off the image of some tropical delicacy.

"Kaori-chan, why won't you at least try?" asked her blond haired teammate. He had a heart-warming air about him and was actually quite handsome for his young age. His hair was a fine straw coloured blond that meshed nicely with his topaz blue eyes.

"Hiro-kun we really are too worn out to carry on, if it wasn't for you we wouldn't have even passed this second part," she replied sweetly.

"Moo Yuki, convince her," pleaded the boy. The other man, who greatly resembled Kaori, just clapped his partner on the back.

"She's right Hiro, people who have made it this far on luck won't go any further. You're strong. You can do it. My sister and I will come back another time."

"Very well then, Souta Kaori, Souta Yuki, please leave the building, you will be escorted back to Konoha by a Chunnin," said the examiner his voice echoing across the hall.

As the two siblings gave their final best wishes to their teammate a big screen was revealed on the top left hand corner of the wall. The computer would make a random selection of two participants who would then face each other in battle. Only the winner would participate in the final tournament. Akari ignored the funny shuffling sound the machine made as she watched the two Cloud ninja turn around the corner out of sight. An audible gasp from Sakura and a whispered "No way" from Naruto made her turn around to look at them. They were both staring up intently at the television screen with bewildered expressions.

'Can it be _that_ bad?' she thought as she moved her gaze over to the big screen. Her eyes widened when she read the words printed on the screen in bright green letters. Beside her Sasuke smirked holding his hand over the cursed mark on his sholder.

"This should be interesting," he whispered.

"You've got to be kidding," said Akari in a low voice as her teammates turned to stare at her, their eyes flicking from the monitor to her face.

"May these two people please remain here," said the examiner in a low voice, "The first battle is about to begin."

Taking one last look up at the screen before moving to her designated place she couldn't help the cold tremor of despair that enveloped her as she read over the names once more:

Seishin Akari vs. Seishin Takahiro

**Dun dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuun :)**


	7. Battle of opposites

_****_**A.N: hi guys, new chapter is finally out along with the new picture which you can find in my devianart account. Big thanks to xxchirushixx for helping m edit this chapter along with all the other chapters she has done for me. Initially chapter 7 and 8 where going to be one whole chapter but i realized it would have been too long and there is just sooooo much explaining done during both chapters that i didn't want it to get too clustered and confusing. The picture for chapter 8 is a big one and i have little time on my hands so sorry if you have to wait a while _ but anyway as usual thanks for the favs and tell me what you think by leaving me a comment ;) **

_**Previously: **_

Akari ignored the funny shuffling sound the machine made as she watched the two Cloud ninja turn around the corner out of sight. An audible gasp from Sakura and a whispered "No way" from Naruto made her turn around to look at them. They were both staring up intently at the television screen with bewildered expressions.

'Can it be _that_ bad?' she thought as she moved her gaze over to the big screen. Her eyes widened when she read the words printed on the screen in bright green letters. Beside her Sasuke smirked holding his hand over the cursed mark on his shoulder.

"This should be interesting," he whispered.

"You've got to be kidding," said Akari in a low voice as her teammates turned to stare at her, their eyes flicking from the monitor to her face.

"May these two people please remain here," said the examiner in a low voice, "the first battle is about to begin."

Taking one last look up at the screen before moving to her designated place she couldn't help the cold tremor of despair that enveloped her as she read over the names once more:

Seishin Akari vs. Seishin Takahiro

**Battle of opposites:**

The air surrounding the room seemed to be getting thicker by the minute as the examiner and the two participants waited for the rest of the assembled Jounin and Genin to make their way up onto the two balconies situated on opposite sides of the room.

Staring into the eyes of the boy who looked roughly about her age, Akari could now distinguish the lilac ring surrounding his eyes, a genetic trait belonging to the Seishin clan. She had also managed to catch a glimpse of the clans emblem printed on to the back of his wine red shirt. He was undoubtedly a proud member of the Seishin clan, and judging by the hard look in his eyes, he already held a grudge against her.

Accommodating themselves on the right hand balcony along with their sensei, the rest of the members of team 7 looked down upon their teammate.

"Ne Kakashi-sensei, how come that guy down there has the same name as Akari-chan?" asked the blond boy inquisitively.

"Hm? He's from the same clan as her," he answered.

"Remember what Akari-san told is when we were in the Land of Waves, about how her dad was originally from Kumogakure and then he left to marry Akari-sans mom?" said Sakura offering him the information in the hopes of triggering his memory.

Naruto just scrunched up his face in concentration. "Hmm that was months ago how am I supposed to remember that far back?"

His three teammate's faces fell. He was honestly impossible to cope with sometimes.

"But a ninja can't leave their natal village just because they want to, if Akari's dad just left Kumogakure wouldn't he be named a missing Nin?" asked Sakura.

"It's true Kumogakure has had discussions with Konoha in the past, however, Akari's dad chose to leave because it was his clan that wouldn't permit blood mixtures in the hope of strengthening their own bloodline limit not because he held a grudge against Kumogakure. As far as I know he made an agreement with the Raikage to give up his ninja career to be able to leave peacefully. Naturally he was tabbed for quite a while, but living in Rice with Akari's mum didn't arise any suspicions so they were eventually left alone. It wasn't until Akari was due that they decided to move to Konohagakure to provide Akari with a better education. Having been born here, Akari is legally a Konoha nin even though her clansmen come from Kumo," explained Kakashi.

"They're about to start, Kakashi," interjected Gai, who was standing beside him looking down at his rivals eldest student with sharp interest.

On the opposite side of the field on the left balcony, Orochimaru disguised as a Sound Jounin smiled down at the battlefield. 'This couldn't have gotten much more interesting…to be able to see the power the Seishin clan holds to its full extent, Akari doesn't stand a chance.'

"Very well, you know the rules, only when one opponent dies or gives up will the battle end, however if I decide that a battle is over you will respect my decision as referee," said Hayate controlling his coughing fits as best as he could. "Start!"

"Before we begin I have a question to ask you," said the young teenage boy while pulling out a kunai from his back pouch. "What the hell is a member from the Seishin clan doing working for Konoha?" He growled his eyes glaring at the girl in front of him.

"That doesn't concern you," Akari answered back in a low voice her body getting into a position to defend itself if needed.

In the blink of an eye, the boy threw his kunai at the girl in front of him and disappeared. Reacting instinctively Akari lunged to the side just as her enemy appeared behind her forcing him to catch his own kunai to stop it from stabbing him.

The crowd watched amazed as the battle began to unfold in front of them.

"What on earth was that, how is it possible he's that fast?" Naruto asked mouth agape.

'It's just like that time,' thought Sasuke as he remember the first time they had trained together as a team and Akari had gotten between him and Naruto to stop them from fighting each other. 'What exactly is that ability?'

"Gai-sensei, there has to be a trick to that speed, I didn't even see him move," said Lee looking up at the older mirror image of himself.

"It's not speed Lee, watch more closely," he replied just as Kakashi lifted his forehead protector to uncover his Sharingan eye and Neji activated his Byakugan.

Tomoe's swirling lazily; Kakashi prepared himself to watch both his student and her rival's movements closely. It didn't matter how many times he saw that technique he never got tired of watching it.

"It seems you aren't able to teleport yourself," said Takahiro as he straightened himself up and pocketed his kunai, "that attack was a test."

"Just because I didn't doesn't mean I can't," replied Akari calmly.

"I've got a theory," he began, walking to one side watching as the girl he was fighting mirrored his movements in the opposite direction. "You're a half-blood, which means not only can you not perform most of the Seishin clan's techniques, but you are limited to the amount of times you use them… am I right?" the last part came as a whisper behind her. He had teleported in the last second and aimed a kick at her side.

Having felt the static surge of energy behind her after years of becoming attuned to the feeling of teleporting she twisted her waist just in time to block his kick before he vanished again and appeared crouched in front of her aiming a strong kick which hit her straight in the chin forcing her slightly sky bound before she cartwheeled a couple of times to put some distance between them.

Straightening up she glared at the blond refusing to rub the sore spot under her chin.

He chuckled lightly, a sound that in any other situation probably would have sounded cheerful and pleasurable to the ear, but under this context just made her sick with anger.

"I'll take that as a yes then," he said.

"Argh how the hell is that a fair fight, I'd so kick that jerks ass!" screeched Naruto grabbing onto the railings angrily.

'C'mon Akari get a grip on yourself,' thought Kakashi looking down at his student.

"Actually, I was just testing how good you were," Akari taunted, a small smirk playing about her face "the real fight starts now."

"Indeed, I'm gonna take this slowly and see just how cheap your abilities are," he said before vanishing for a second and re-appearing the next to her right. Ducking she avoided the punch, before disappearing and re- appeared above him instantly aiming a hard downward kick. Predicting her move he teleported and appeared behind her causing her to teleport before her foot could smash into the ground and appeared again beside him. Turning quickly he caught her fist as she caught his. Both glared intently at each other before separating slightly and teleporting to opposite ends of the room.

"Amazing, it's not high speed, its actual molecular decomposition and composition in a matter of seconds," said Neji who had been watching the battle closely.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Tenten.

"He means they literally disappear from an area to appear in another, it's a break through time and space only members from the Seishin clan can achieve," said Gai, "there are however a couple of disadvantages.

"How so?" asked Sasuke, gripping the cursed seal on his shoulder.

"It's the same as their ability to mind read, it has to meet certain requirements. The first would be that they can only teleport to places they've been to before and even then distance is an important factor. If the individual is too weak to do long distances and they attempt to do it irrationally they could easily die or end up gravely hurt," explained Kakashi.

"Without medical attention they wouldn't survive," nodded Gai.

"But why do they end up hurt?" asked Naruto.

"The Seishin clan pride themselves on not using chakra to perform their abilities. Instead they use the psychic power of the mind. A normal human wouldn't be able to access that power however the members of the Seishin clan are born with the right hemisphere of their brain which controls the psychic more developed than a regular human," said Kakashi in his teacher voice.

"That still doesn't explain how they get hurt," said Naruto furrowing his brow in confusion.

Kakashi sighed before proceeding. "If you over exert your body do you not end up hurting yourself? The same happens if you over exert the amount of energy your brain can release." The sound of kicks and punches had them all turning back to look down upon the match.

Akari was managing to avoid most of the blows but if she kept teleporting so much at this rate she wouldn't last. She could already feel a slight warning throb over her right eyebrow. She was going to have to be more meticulous than this. Readying herself for her opponent's next attack she entered one of the most basic defence positions. As long as he didn't manage to corner her she could avoid teleporting and even if he did manage to she could use another ability from the Seishin clan that required far less psychic energy than teleporting.

"Shall we take this up a notch?" asked the boy standing in front of her.

"Just get on with it already," she growled out. She watched as Takahiro smirked clearly enjoying himself as he created a set of hand seals before completely vanishing. Her eyes roamed around the area quickly in search of a sign of where her opponent could be hidden. It didn't take her long to realize he had completely disappeared from the sparring stadium.

Looking down upon their teammate in apprehension the rest of the members of team 7 watched as the blond teenager below was walking almost lazily towards Akari and she just seemed to be staring off into space.

"What's happening, why isn't she moving?" asked Sakura slightly apprehensive.

"That's…" Kakashi began as he observed the match.

"Genjutsu?" Akari asked herself out load. "No, Genjutsu; doesn't work on me. What the hell are you playing at, show yourself already," she yelled.

A low chuckle rebated off of the walls of the room making it impossible to pin point the source of the sound. "Of course you'd be immune to genjutsu, I'd be highly disappointed if you hadn't at least mastered _that_ ability properly. You're barely worth a fight as it is…"

"What's he doing? Why can't she see him?" asked Sasuke.

"Meisagakure no Jutsu. It's a camouflage technique that completely erases ones scent. However Takahiro-kun's is different, if he were to be using the proper technique we wouldn't be able to see him, he's probably modified it slightly to suit his abilities," explained Gai.

"But if he wanted to become invisible why not just use genjutsu?" questioned Sakura.

"Because genjutsu doesn't affect members of the Seishin clan. An illusionary technique in its essence is a technique that fools the mind through ones senses to believe what they see is true. It's impossible to fool someone who has complete control over their mind. Takahiro-kun has opted to fool Akari's eyesight instead. He's not an opponent to be taken lightly," said Kakashi.

Taking a couple of steps back Akari took deep breaths to calm her nerves. She wouldn't let the situation get the better of her. "You're using a camouflage jutsu," she said. It wasn't a question; she was stating what she already knew.

"Indeed. With this technique I become invisible to your direct sense of eyesight. Frustrating isn't it? Not being able to see something that's right in front of you," chuckled the boy, once again his voice was magnified to bounce off of every surface in the room.

"That's stupid, as long as I can't see you it just means you're directly ahead of me," spat out Akari.

"Or behind," came the low whisper right next to her left ear. Eyes widening she turned and swished her arm in a side motion hoping to make contact with something but the light laughter dancing around the room told her he had long teleported from the area.

"I see, it makes sense not to waste chakra on making himself completely invisible, as long as he's in front of her she can't see him," stated Neji crossing his arms.

"What do you mean?" asked Lee.

"With the ability to teleport wherever he wants to in the room he doesn't need to be completely camouflaged, as long as he stays out of her peripheral view he's got the upper hand," explained his female teammate.

"He's had the upper hand since the start of the match," mumbled Sasuke.

"Oi teme, what kind of a way of supporting your teammate is that?"

"I'm just stating the facts," he replied calmly.

"Stop your bickering and watch the match," said Kakashi, smoothly intervening before they started shouting down each other's throats.

"Right, let's get started," said Takahiro. The minute he finished talking a fist came into contact with Akari's stomach. Not giving her time to even gasp, he made contact with her jaw throwing her backwards slightly where he then proceeded to kick her in the back causing her to stumble forward. Using her forward movement to his advantage he delivered another swift kick to her chest and then teleported behind her.

Akari could only receive the blows one after another but she couldn't stop the slight yelp of surprise that left her when she felt a round kick to her ankles causing her to land flat on her back on the concrete floor. Predicting his next movement before it occurred she placed her arms in front of her body; eyes glowing brightly a pinkish shield appeared around them interjecting the stomp that had been aimed at her ribcage. Rolling onto her front she raised to her feet quickly, as Takahiro became visible again twenty meters away from her. It ticked her off that he had teleported so many times in such a short amount of time and wasn't even breathing heavily.

"That's your force field? Seriously?" he asked trying to not burst out laughing.

"Force field?" asked Sakura looking up at her sensei.

"The members of the Seishin clan have the ability to control the flow of psychic energy through any part of their body enabling them to create a shield made out of raw energy," explained the older man.

Dusting herself down Akari stared the boy straight in the eyes. "You're constantly making fun of my abilities. What the hell was wrong with my shield?" she asked. The laughter that preceded her question really irked her. She hadn't felt like slapping someone so bad for a long time.

"Please that hardly constitutes as a defence, let alone a psychic shield. This," he said as the outer area of his eyes glowed a bright blue, "is a proper shield."

The gasp that resounded around from the watching crown barely served to hide her own. She watched wide eyed as a perfectly oval pink shaped light surrounded the boy opposite her.

"What is that?" asked Naruto his voice a whisper barely audible even to himself.

Kakashi gripped the railings with his hands hard, his knuckles turning white due to the amount of force he was using. This kid was no laughing matter, he was the real deal.

'That boy has the full talent I tried to find in her,' thought Orochimaru as he licked his lips, 'you're lucky I'm after Sasuke-kun right now, Takahiro.'

"Full body shield," Akari whispered her voice cracking slightly.

"You see the difference between our power? It'd be easier if you just gave up, walked away and acted as if none of this had happened. You don't have a hope in hell of defeating me," said Takahiro quietly dispelling the technique, his eyes returning to their natural topaz blue.

"You don't know that…" she began.

"Just look at yourself," he spat out, "you've barely touched me since the match started. I have nothing personal against you, but I won't let you stain the Seishin clans reputation any further with your-"

"To hell with the clan," Akari growled out making everyone look at her surprised.

"What?" asked Takahiro not daring to believe his ears.

"I said, to hell with the clan. The clan this, the clan that, that's all you lot ever talk about boasting your egotistic rubbish without taking into consideration an individual on their own! Talent, skill… they don't mean a thing if you lack determination," said Akari fiercely her hands bawled into fists.

From the balconies, Sasuke and Neji clenched their hands into fists of their own.

'She doesn't know what she's talking about,' thought Sasuke fiercely.

"You're gonna regret having said that," said Takahiro calmly as he retrieved a kunai from his holster. As he finished talking he once again used the camouflage technique and teleported around Akari delivering punches and light scratches up her arms, tearing small cuts in her shirt and sash before sending her flying across the floor with another powerful kick.

He watched, invisible as she rose slowly to her feet. "I told you you'd regret it. Those cuts will just keep getting deeper and deeper. I wonder how long you'll hold out before begging me to stop," said Takahiro, using a dispersal technique so she couldn't pin point his position through sound.

Meanwhile the crowd above watched everything clearly. It was hard not giving in to the temptation to shout out to their teammate where her opponent was, but if they did she'd be disqualified.

'C'mon Akari, what can you do in a situation like this,' thought Kakashi.

Panting slightly and holding her chest where she had been kicked she looked down at the scratches she had received. 'They aren't deep but if he stays invisible while attacking I won't even be able to defend myse… wait could this be?' she thought while looking closely at every bruise and scratch she had including the ones that had only grazed the fabric of her clothing. 'It can't be a coincidence…next time he attacks, will be my turn to react.' Getting to her feet she placed herself in a fighting stance waiting for her opponent's next attack.

"Hn, you just don't learn do you? Very well here I go," said Takahiro teleporting beside Akari again and slashing her back, then her arm, then teleporting to the right to graze her leg.

'Concentrate…three attacks so far, four…five,' she thought, counting down the blows as she received them, gritting her teeth against the stinging feeling of flesh being torn open, 'NOW!' opening her eyes they shone brightly and she teleported out of the area just as Takahiro aimed his last attack.

Becoming visible again he watched surprised as she appeared near the referee her hands flying through a series of hand seals. Landing on the floor she skidded slightly against the concrete before slamming her palm down hard and shouting, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A cloud of smoke surrounded the imminent area around her ankles as she got to her feet staring down at the boy on the opposite end of the room whose brow was furrowed in frustration. When the smoke dissipated the only thing that remained between Akari's feet was a small ferret standing on its hind legs wearing a purple coat and a smaller version of the Konoha headband attached around its neck.

"Ah, a ferret!" said Sakura her eyebrows rising to her hairline in surprise.

"I really don't see the use of summoning a ninja ferret," said Sasuke staring down at his teammate in disbelief.

"Akari, when you said you might summon me during the Chunnin exams I was expecting to be called out before the third part of the exam you know," said the ferret looking up at his summoner.

"These are preliminary rounds, Kaito, I'm sorry but I'm going to need you to lend me a hand," said Akari promptly ignoring the chorus of "It talked" coming from the balconies.

Nodding the small animal jumped up onto Akari's arm and placed itself on her head. Eyes widening slightly when he noticed their opponent he looked back down at his master.

"We're up against a member of the Seishin clan," he mumbled.

"How dare you," began Takahiro in a low voice making everyone stare at him, "how dare you possess the Seishin clans summoning animal and adorn him with a Konoha headband! You were lucky to get away from my last attack or else I would-"

"It wasn't luck," interrupted Akari.

"What?" he spat out after a brief pause of bafflement.

"It wasn't luck," she repeated calmly, "I noticed the second time you attacked me you left me with six marks," she explained lifting up her right arm to show some of the scratches to him, "six marks that coincided with the same amount of punches you gave me with your first attack. I figured it couldn't be a coincidence that you attacked me six times before backing off to taunt me. You were resting weren't you? In other words, even you a pureblood member of the Seishin clan can't teleport to your heart's content while keeping up a camouflage jutsu, I'm I right?" she asked a small smile adorning her features.

'Nice, Akari,' thought Kakashi while nodding.

"So what if that's true?" asked Takahiro.

"Do you know why the Seishin clans summon animals are ferrets?" she asked. "It's because ferrets lack what the Seishin clan possess, keen eyesight. They make up for it with an incredible sense of hearing and are trained to be able to synch their mind to the mind of their summoner."

"I know all of that, what's the point of telling me this?"

"I'm telling you this because you don't seem to realize your little invisibility technique won't work on me anymore."

Takahiro remained quiet for a while before he smirked and pointed his kunai at the girl. "You're on," he said. Running quickly through the hand seals he made himself invisible again.

'I can't mess this up, concentrate. Using the summoning jutsu has left me with about 20% of my chakra…no, probably 16% seeing as I didn't have all of it to start with. I've got to end this soon.'

"I'm counting on you, Kaito," she whispered closing her eyes and placing her hands in the position of a prayer. Even with her eyes closed the distinct light blue glow could still be distinguished under her eyelids.

Nodding the ferret let the energy run through his body naturally while his little ears twitched around picking up all the small inaudible sounds.

The crowd above watched as Takahiro appeared beside Akari and made a powerful round kick which she dodged by ducking. Gritting his teeth he carried on aiming attacks teleporting after every one to gain a new angle, however Akari still managed to avoid getting hit. After six futile attacks he teleported away and shouted out across the field, "I'm still not done!"

Akari opened her eyes the glowing slowly dying down. Kaito jumped down off of her head and gave a small nod.

"Thanks, I'll take it from here," she assured him before he vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Ne ne, Kakashi-sensei, why'd she let her summon go, she was doing just fine with him?" asked Naruto perplexed.

"She's synched her mind with his, distance isn't an influence because they have a blood contract with one another. For a short period of time Akari has acquired Kaito's characteristics. It's time to turn the tables," he said holding back the tremor of excitement that ran down his spine. It was turning out to be a good fight.

"You're gonna regret having let him go if you haven't managed to succeed in synching, I won't allow you to summon him again!" Takahiro exclaimed as he teleported behind his opponent and drove the kunai towards her kidney except Akari dashed to the side in the last minute avoiding his attack.

"He missed!" exclaimed Naruto a grin slowly creeping onto his face.

"No, she made him miss," said Lee bawling his fists together in his excitement.

Akari continued to avoid one attack after another. Before she had been able to feel the static energy surge around the area caused by his transportation but it hadn't been enough to know where his attack was coming from. Now she could hear him as clearly as if she was seeing him. After avoiding his last attack, not giving him a chance to get away she turn her waist sharply and made a swift round kick hitting him right in the jaw.

Upon contact the camouflage technique disappeared and Takahiro was sent rolling across the floor a good distance away.

"YATTA! She hit him!" exclaimed Naruto jumping up and down.

"Good job Akari-san!" Sakura cheered.

'That girl has definitely refined her fighting style. Does she honestly resolve everything by kicking people in the jaw?' thought Orochimaru with a grim look on his face. Turning he looked over to where the rest of her teammates his eyes resting on the man that had been looking after her for the past few years. 'Kakashi must have had a hand in this; she didn't display this determination when she was with me.'

"I just told you, that technique of yours won't work anymore," said Akari as she watched the boy get to his feet slowly and click his jaw back in place.

He stared her down for a while before smirking. "Very well, you asked for it." Eyes shining brightly he focused energy in his right hand.

Akari watched in awe as psychic energy collected in his fist until his whole hand was glowing as bright as his eyes. "W-what is that?"

"Never seen anyone mass energy in their hands before?" he asked genuinely curious. 'She's really been cut off completely from the clan, but one of her parents must have come from Kumo at some point, why didn't they teach her?'

'This is bad, if he touches me with that… I don't even want to think of the possibilities,' thought Akari feeling the air tightening around her due to the pressure of Takahiro's attack.

"Shall we?" he asked before disappearing and launching his attack from the air. Jumping out of the way just in time Akari swayed and turned avoiding his fist as best as she could.

'I can't stay on the defensive all the time, I'll just wear myself out, I'm gonna have to wait for an opening to strike,' she thought whipping out a kunai and gripping it tightly. During the process of avoiding another attack, Akari's eyes roamed up to the balconies and she found her sight clashing with Kakashi's lone eye. In the fraction of a second they made eye contact Akari remembered the past two years living and training with him and joining Team 7.

_-"You did well training today. You managed to last longer using your bloodline limit than you did the other day, but you know you could last even longer if you combined it with…"_

"_I'm not using my mother's gift Kakashi. Ever. My teammates…my family… they were all killed because I posses the same gift as her."_

_-"You can't attempt to run away all your life, one day you're gonna have to open yourself up to who you really are. Your parent's wouldn't have wanted this."_

_-_"_You talk big… but you're weaker than the last time we met. D'you really think you can keep Sasuke-kun away from me?"_

_-__"Repressing them won't make them go away you know, and one day, you'll have teammates you'll want to protect and you'll be stuck at a crossroads because you can't accept who you really are."_

"Don't go getting distracted now!" shouted Takahiro aiming at the girls side.

Snapping out of her daze she watched the attack come with wide eyes. It was too late to avoid it. Instinctively placing her arms in front of her she created a shield to receive the blow.

When the boys hand clashed with the small shield, pink and blue meshed together creating bright whisps of purple light before both teenagaers were sent skidding across the floor in opposite directions. Sending chakra to their feet they slowed down eventually coming to a stop. Taking aim Akari threw the kunai with a great amount a force sending it flying at the blond haired boy before he had time to get his senses back.

Dissapearing in the last second, Takahiro appeared crouched down in front of Akari aiming a sharp upercut at the girls chin again.

Reacting quickly Akari placed her arms in a cross to block the blow except in the last moment her opponent kicked her round the ankles and once again she found herself loosing her balance against gravity. He had tricked her.

Appearing above her as she fell the young boy locked his legs around her hips, grabbed her forhead and took her down slamming the back of her head against the concrete as he landed on top of her in a stradling position.

White lights jumping in front of her eyes due to the impact, Akari made an attempt to get out from underneith her enemy when a cold warning blade at her neck made her freeze and glare up at him.

"No teleporting now…you know what happens when there's contact," he whispered to her panting slightly.

"Argh she had him, damn it he's so slippery," groaned Naruto. The suspense throughout the whole battle was literally killing him. The two teenagaers kept taking turns on who had the upper hand in the battle and when it seemed Akari was winning Takahiro turned the tables again by whipping out another technique.

"What happens if she teleports while in contact with someone else?" asked Sakura

"I don't know," replied Kakashi quietly, "I've never asked but I suppose it's another condition to be able to teleport properly.

"Not gonna hurry up and finish me off?" Akari asked him breathing heavily.

"I didn't corner you to finish you off. I told you I was gonna take my time and even though I've seen more than enough I'm curious. I cornered you because I want to know who you are," he ansewered sincerely not releasing her forhead.

"Who am i? What do you mea… you wouldn't?" she asked fear threading her voice as her blue eyes widened slightly.

"I'm sorry," he whispered before concentrating energy in his hand again.

"N-no don' ," she began but was cut off by someone screaming. It actually took her a while to realize the screaming was coming from her as she gripped the boys arm tightly fighting back the searing pain she was feeling in her head.

Takahiro backed off slightly gripping his face with his other hand and panting. 'What kind of mind has she got? Someone's tampered with her before,' he thought as he watched the girl below him panting heavily, 'if that's the case I'm gonna have to release the same amount of energy I receive from her." He looked down at the girl who seemed to have somewhat regained her composure and opened her eyes to stare at him and for the briefest of seconds he found his body wrecked with guilt before he shut his eyes to block out that piercing blue that was driving him crazy and once again listened to her screams as he attempted to enter her mind. Gritting his teeth against the blunt force of feeling himself pushing her bonderies he concentrated on releasing the energy he was receiving slowly from his left hand.

Looking down from the balconies the crowd watched shocked at what was happening. Naruto was gripping the railings fiercely trying to control the impulse of jumping down there and punching the older boy half to death while Sakura stood beside him quivering with fear. When Sasuke let out an unexpected yelp pf pain and grabed his sholder his teammates turned to look at him expectantly.

Meanwhile on the opposite balcony the rest of the contestants from the Hidden Sand and Sound were looking bored out of their minds except for the Jounin leader of the Sound trio. Orochimaru was looking down at the battle with fixed determination his blood beginning to boil with a mixture of excitement and anger.

'That boy can't possibly break through the barrier placed on her mind. It was hard enough erasing her memories to have someone come along and make her remember… if he learns too much he's going to have to be disposed of.' To his utter horror through the energy being released from Takahiro's left hand, vague images and voices could be heard as if being transmitted through an old radio.

"_That's true, but like I said I didn't lay.-"_

"_JUST BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T PERSONALLY KILL THEM IT DOESN'T MAKE YOU ANY LESS GUILTY!"_

"_Let me guess, you developed a premature bloodline limit?"_

"_I've been able to use my abilities for as long as I can remember."_

"_To a new team"_

"_To a new team"_

Akari could see the images flashing before her closed eyelids as clearly as if she was reliving each and every one of them. Hearing them echoed outside of her head where everybody else was probably hearing them is what terrified her and the fact that all she could do was grip onto Takahiro's arm and scream made her blood run cold.

"Kakashi what the hell is that technique?" asked Gai watching the scratchy images forming in the bluish light surrounding the blond boy's hand.

"Robbed memory, the victim is forced to relieve past memories at the users will. Kumagakure uses that technique as a means of interrogation, but this…this is brutal, I never imagined it was like this…" answered Kakashi stuffing his hand in his pockets to hide his fidgeting fingers. Glancing over to where the Hokage was, their eyes met and the message to stay put was very evident in the older man's eyes. They had never been able to extract much information from Akari about her time with Orochimaru, if this boy could hack into her mind; they'd be given a lot of insight as to what happened. Reluctantly looking back down at the scene below them his eyes widened at the scenes that had started flickering amongst the misty substance amazed she still held that particular memory.

"_Kakashi, she has a Konoha headband," said a male voice. _That was definitely Genma's voice.

"_D'you know her?" _That was his own calm demeanour.

"_Ah, she's waking up." _ And that was Kotetsu.

As soon as her eyes began to open, what had once been darkness amongst the seas of blue energy, now images were starting to form. Three blurry faces could now be seen looking down into the girls eyes.

"_Where are you from?" asked Genma._

_Too tired and beat up to do anything else the girl answered in a raspy voice the only word that struck her as home before everything went dark again; "K-konoha."_

"_What do we do captain?"_

_After a long pause a calm soothing voice pierced through the darkness; "Bring her along."_

That had been the first time Kakashi had ever laid eyes on the girl and he hadn't seen her again until a year after that. He'd come home from a mission and she had already been in the Hokage's office he remembered as he tried to block out the girls frantic flailing.

_Knocking on the wood sharply he entered upon hearing the voice of the aging Hokage behind the door. Seated in a chair in front of the Hokage's desk was a small brown haired girl who hadn't budged upon his entering._

"_Kakashi what happened?" asked the older man pointing towards his lack of headband with his smoking pipe._

"_Ah, the cloth got ripped and I have to get it replaced," he answered showing him the remains of the decrepit looking material before pocketing it again. "Izumo and Genma are in the hospital with minor injuries but other than that the mission was a success."_

"_That's good to hear," nodded the older man before turning to regard the small girl, "Akari, this is the man that found you stranded last year, I suppose you have something to say."_

_The thirteen year old girl turned in her seat before getting up and bowing slightly before stammering out a thank you to the white haired man._

"_Iie iie, it was nothing," said Kakashi scratching the back of his head. He hadn't recognized her until he had seen her eyes. True he had only vaguely seen them when he and his team had hauled her to the hospital a year ago but that tone of blue and purple was a feature that he figured would be hard to ever forget._

_Looking down at her she noticed the surprised look on her face._

"_You're hurt?" she asked unsure staring at his closed eye._

"_Oh this, it's just an old scar, see?" he said opening his eyelid to prove he still had an eyeball underneath it. The gasp she let out and the terrified look that crept behind her eyes wasn't what he had been expecting. Sure the colour of his Sharingan was quite intimidating but it couldn't be that bad. He extended his hand worriedly out of reflex when she sank back down into the chair she had previously been occupying with a far off dreamy look about her. "Are you oka-"_

"_I remember," she stammered out interrupting him._

_The Hokage rose from his chair a look of keen interest on his face. "What did you remember Akari?" he asked her soothingly._

"_It's not a something…more of a feeling," she began, trying to find the right words to explain herself. Taking a deep breath she carried on, "I've remembered, Genjutsu… is frightening." _

_After that incident Kakashi had found himself in front of the Hokage a couple of days later. It was clear to him he was going to be receiving news, and by the way the old man was pacing up and down he probably wasn't going to like it. Nevertheless he waited patiently in silence to be told what to do._

"_I want you to look after Akari."_

_Whatever he had been expecting it hadn't been that. "When you say look after you mean…"_

"_I mean as her living with you and you being her guardian."_

"_No," responded Kakashi flatly._

"_It wasn't a question Kakashi I'm telling you to look after her," said the older man taking a seat._

"_With all due respect Hokage-sama, I'm really not cut out to look after a teenage girl-"_

"_Kakashi," began Sarutobi in an authorative voice, "we've made no progress at all with her since she got back here. Even under strict supervision in case she was one of Orochimaru's spies we've tried helping her regain her memories, Anko has been trying to get her to open up a bit more with no success and she takes one look at you and her memories are triggered. I'm not passing this opportunity up," he said with a note of finality._

"_Actually she said she remembered being afraid of Genjutsu," started Kakashi slouching slightly, "I don't really see how that's relevant."_

"_It's relevant because she is practically immune to it. I want her moved in with you by the end of the week. Have I made myself clear?"_

"_Perfectly…" he grumbled, "but what exactly am I supposed to do to help her?"_

"_I'm sure you'll figure something out," he answered sitting down, smiling slightly, balancing his pipe between his lips, "for now I just want you to keep an eye on her…although there is one more thing I would like you to try and find out…"_

He hadn't managed to trigger Akari's memories again after that. All she seemed interested in was perfecting her immunity to Genjutsu and keeping to herself. He himself was some sort of a loner but her state of seclusion clearly hadn't been healthy so after a few months he opted to train her in other areas and learnt a lot about her fighting style and a few bits of information from her past she cared to share with him. But it was nothing the Hokage didn't already know. 'I was never able to properly help her…' he thought solemnly looking down at the girl.

'Just a bit more,' thought Takahiro as he travelled along the dark corridor that had flickering images all over the walls. He finally came to a point where he couldn't carry on because of a barrier. Placing his hand on the jelly like texture he punched straight through it hoping to create a hole. Instead it just stretched to accommodate to the intrusion. Smirking he looked up at the see through rubber wall. The memories he wanted to access were on the other side. And he was going to get through no matter what. Channelling energy through both hands he pushed against the barrier, slowly walking along the corridor, stretching the material with every step he took. Even without having gone through it he was starting to see and hear the memories he wanted to reach.

The images shinning off of Takahiro's left palm became even fuzzier than what they had been before making it really hard to distinguish anything other than voices.

"_Otou-san," said a cheerful young voice. _

"_Akari, don't run near the edge of the lake," _came the worried cry of a women. She had long brown hair that was loose and dark green eyes and Sakura found herself vaguely wondering if that was her teammate's mother.

"_Calm down Miko, her teacher at the academy says she has excellent chakra control," interjected a man with jet black hair, "let her enjoy herself."_

As the scene changed yet again Naruto made a mental note that Akari looked nothing like her dad, in fact, the only thing that she resembled him in was his eyes. They were the same intense blue and purple. Very different to the light sky blue and lilac Takahiro possessed.

"_She's absolutely useless; the clan will never accept her." _This time the voice belonged to an ageing lady in about her mid-forties.

"_Mother why did you even bother coming, Akari belongs here, she's being raised to become a Konoha kunoichi."_

"_We couldn't afford her to be a threat, if by any chance she did have remarkable skill; the clansmen were willing to take her in to work for Kumo but as it is there is nothing to worry about, she can barely even levitate things."_

"_Akari, stays here, it was never your choice to make, so get out," shouted the younger man, anger threading his voice. There was silence for a while as the older woman walked away, until a small voice made him turn around._

"_Otou-san, why does obaasan hate me so?"_

The scene changed once again as Takahiro delved further through the barrier. It was getting harder and harder to keep pushing and it didn't seem like it was going to break anytime soon. This time the onlookers found themselves looking at what seemed to be an old abandoned lab.

"_Akari, this place was sealed off, we shouldn't be here."_

"_Shush Kaito; I'm trying to decide whether this place is safe enough." _ The ferret, which was considerably smaller than the one they had seen a while ago, just hung his head low, his small eyes glancing around the room.

"_Safe enough for what? Akari, I don't like it here, I feel like we're being watched."_

"_Safe enough to train of course, my teammates keep picking on me because I'm younger, so I'm going to train real hard in secret to prove I can be a valuable asset to the group…"_

The scene dissolved again and changed. The crowd found themselves staring back at the same lab, the only indications of it being a different time were that the girl crying in the middle of the room was older than before, and her summon wasn't with her.

"_They were all killed and now they're coming after you." _Sasuke and Sakura gripped the railing hard as Orochimaru came into view.

"_W-who are you?"_

"_I can protect you, give you power and make you stronger but as long as you're in Konoha you're not safe… will you come with me?" he asked extending his hand out towards the girl. _She made to grab onto his hand but everything went pitch black before she could and this time only voices could be heard.

"_Great job Orochimaru-sama, seems like the Body transfer Jutsu was a success."_

"_This is the ultimate step to immortality," he said laughing his voice switching from a feminine sultry chime back into his normal masculine timbre. "Do you have the results on the girl?"_

"_They aren't good news I'm afraid. Her ability passed on by her mother was taught to her not inherited. I've tried figuring out how it works but without it using chakra it's beyond me."_

"_But her bloodline limit is still useful though," he hissed._

"_True, but she only inherited half of the potential the Seishin clan has to offer. If you take over her body… you'll find yourself dealing with the same trouble she puts up with to be able to use techniques." _For a while the blue mass of energy remained silent until Orochimaru's voice penetrated across the battlefield.

"… _I see no reason to keep her around then." _

The Hokage bit down onto his smoking pipe hard. Had he really just heard Orochimaru say he'd found the key to immortality? What exactly had he been up to since he left Konoha? And why was he back now?

'So that's why he let her go,' thought Kakashi as he continued to watch the images flicker amongst the sea of blue, 'if he was unable to control her mother's powers and her clans abilities were of little use to him…that sick bastard using people like that.'

The scenery in Takahiro's hand unfolded into that of a dark forest.

_Akari was running as fast as she could, the need to get away was evident as footsteps could be heard close behind her. Stumbling on a lose vine, she fell face first into the dirt. Turning around she saw a hand shoot out and grab her around the forehead before she found herself screaming pain._ All that was visible through the mist was an evil smirk before everything went black, presumable because the Akari in the memory had fainted.

Takahiro jumped in surprise when he felt a hand wrap around his wrist. Her screaming and flailing had died down to a heavy panting a while ago. He hadn't expected her to start fighting again. "G-get out," she rasped.

"If you just stopped fighting I cou-"

"Get out," she said more fiercely this time, her eyes tight shut against the pain.

"Will you just liste-"

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" she screamed eyes opening sharply and glowing fiercely.

In her mind Takahiro lost his footing and felt the barrier push him right back from where he had come from. The crowd gasped as they watched him soar through the air and straight through the wall leaving a noticeable round sized crater in it.

Turning around onto all fours, Akari rested her forehead against the cold floor trying to control her breathing. The pounding in her temples was killing her. It had been a long time since she had experienced this much pain in her head and it was by sheer will and stubbornness that she was still conscious. Once she was breathing normally she got up steadily, knees shaking slightly, she watched the blond boy limp around the corner back into the room. 'Seems like he managed to create a full body shield in the last minute,' she thought.

'To have been able to create such a shockwave in that condition, I'm impressed. She's got more fight in her than I originally thought… but that doesn't change the fact that she's worn out,' thought Takahiro clutching his rib cage.

"What do you say we end this once and for all?" said Akari.

"You can't beat me… you should have realize-"

"I can win!" she replied fierce determination burning in her eyes. "I'm not fighting this battle alone anymore… I've got my friends to back me up," she smiled, her eyes twinkling.

"No one here is going to help you, this is a preliminary battle and I'm telling you, you can't wi-"

"I can! Because I've realized I can't keep running away from who I really am, I may not be a pureblood member; my abilities may be way below yours, but I have abilities my mother instilled in me when I was young too, I have the determination my teacher has taught me, my teammates faith and my own stubbornness," she said looking down at her hand before closing it into a fist, "I've been pushing my true potential aside for so long claiming to be protecting the people around me…the truth is I was just running away," she explained in a soft voice her palm travelling up to her left shoulder covering the area where the cursed seal was. Taking a deep breath she looked back into the eyes of the boy she was fighting.

"She isn't going to…?" asked Gai staring surprised at Kakashi. The silver haired man just stared down at the battlefield, not daring to believe his ears. Had she really gotten over her fears? Was she really going to use her mother's gift?

"Why are you fighting so hard?" asked Takahiro sincerely puzzled. Surely the misery and pain wasn't worth it.

"Because I've remembered," she smiled.

"Remembered? Remembered what?"

"My dream," she stated simply.

Sakura raised her head surprised slightly as she remembered meeting the brunette for the first time.

"_Hmm well let's see, first off my name is Seishin Akari, nearly fifteen years old, I like reading and going out to enjoy Konoha's hot springs after missions. Hmm my dreams? I suppose I haven't really thought of that but my ambition is to become a top elite Jounin someday"_

"What about it?" asked the blond boy slightly irritated now, "what is your dream?" 'What is driving you?' he thought to himself.

Akari smiled fondly as she remembered a memory that had been pushed to the back of her head for so many years.

"_Otou-san, why does obaa-san hate me so?"_

"_She doesn't hate you sweetie," said the older man crouching down to be more level with the six year old, "It's just Daddy's family has a lot of internal conflicts, and because you aren't a proper member of the Seishin clan they don't think you are worth the name," he said sadly stroking the girls hair._

"_Because I can't do techniques properly like you?" she asked watching her grandmothers back turn around the street corner and disappear._

"_Yeah." The room remained in silence for a while before Akari began talking again._

"_Well then I've just decided my dream."_

_Looking down at his six year old daughter he asked her what her dream was. She just looked up into his eyes and grinned. "My dream is…"_

Looking back at the boy before her she raised her hand before pointing it directly at him; "My dream is to prove you all wrong. One day, I'm going to make the Seishin clan recognize me as a true member, I'll make you realize I'm a real kunoichi who'll rise to the top!"

A tremor of excitement ran down Naruto's spine at his teammates words and he couldn't help the smile spreading over his face. Kakashi nodded, a surge of pride creeping through him. These were _his_ students' and none of them were going down without a fight.

'She's not lying, those eyes, there isn't a trace of a doubt within them,' thought Takahiro. Clenching his fists he smiled up at her. "I'm not going down, no matter what you say, I won't fall."

"We'll see," she muttered, "It's time I started using all my abilities full out, no more holding back, no more turning my back on those precious to me, just you and me, till the end."

Eyes lighting up and hand glowing Takahiro growled, "Let's go!" before running straight towards her. No more camouflage techniques, no more childish evasive games. This time they were both serious.


	8. I will win

**A.N: **Hi guys. It's been a few weeks I know I'm really sorry. As always I am ever grateful to my lovely beta reader xxchirushixx and my newest beta reader who will be helping me focus more on this Junablossom! I am going to ask you to be patient while reading this; all is not what it seems, especially in the Narutoverse.

Also want to mention that one of my readers has pointed out that I use some words that may be hard for non-native speakers to understand so from now on I'll be adding a little key with words that may baffle a few people:

1.-Ludicrous: ridiculous or hilarious because of obvious absurdity.

2.-Hightened: "her senses were still heightened from synchronising with…" to have heightened senses is for them to be sharper than usual because of the effect of something for example medication, fear…

3.-Enumerating: to mention separately or in order; name one by one; list.

4.-Evaluating: To examine and judge carefully; appraise.

5.-Mesmerized: To be spellbound; enthralled or hypnotized by something.

Disclaimer: as always nothing from the Narutoverse belongs to me other than the Seishin clan and its members ;)

**~I will win!~**

Akari watched as Takahiro made his way towards her from the other side of the field, his fist retracting aiming a direct punch to her face. Calculating the distance, as soon as he was five meters away from her she made the motion of an upper cut the way she would if she were aiming at his stomach, but instead of hitting him herself, the concrete broke and the earth pushed up a squared segment hitting him right where she wanted it to.

The technique dispelled as Takahiro fell to his knees holding his stomach with both hands against the pain a shallow gasp escaping his lips. Once he steadied his breathing he glared up at the girl with questioning eyes.

The onlookers stared down slightly perplexed as to what had happened.

"Did she just use an earth style technique?" asked Sakura coming up with no better explanation as to why the ground had suddenly shot up through the concrete.

"I didn't see any hand seals though," said Sasuke eyes slightly wide.

"No, you're right about the seals…that's her ability," said Kakashi calmly.

The members of Team 7 and Team Gai turned to look up at the Sharingan master, all with questioning gazes.

"What ability?" asked Naruto eyes clamped shut in a fox like manner, "What exactly happened?"

"Akari's mother comes from a nomadic tribe that specialize themselves in healing and passing down the voice of nature, they are what some would call shamans" said Gai looking at Kakashi as he spoke to make sure he wasn't getting his facts wrong.

"Not very many people know much about them actually, they never stay in a place long enough, always travelling where ever their instincts take them. The last time they were near Konoha was fifteen years ago when Miko-san gave birth to Akari. They spent three years wandering along the border of fire country, never coming too close to civilizations and never straying too far away from Konoha, as soon as Akari turned three they left with the morning breeze. They've never been seen in fire country since then," explained Kakashi in a voice that was very different from his usual teaching voice. It was almost as if he were reading out of a book, feeling the words written on the pages.

"But that still doesn't explain what just happened," blurted out Naruto, really confused now. Kakashi's explanation hadn't answered anything at all; in fact, he had only served to rattle his poor brain into forming more questions.

"So that tribe, they control nature or something?" asked Sasuke sounding sceptical.

Kakashi smirked under his mask as Sasuke's words brought a memory from long ago.

_A man in his late forties sat down on a cushion in front of the small black coffee table that adorned Kakashi's living room, a reddish coloured book, whose lack of crease marks indicated it was brand new, lay slightly to the right of the Copy Nin. Both of them were talking animatedly to each other not having seen one another for quite some time. They were more acquaintances than friends but that didn't mean that when they saw each other they couldn't open a bottle of sake and talk about good times. Their current topic of conversation was concerning the girl that was currently sleeping in her bedroom._

"_So after all these years," began the elder man, "she came back only to end up living with…you?" he chuckled as if the notion of the idea was ludicrous. While his cheeks had a slight tinge to them he wasn't drunk enough for his voice to sound slurry…yet._

"_It's not like I actually offered to look after her," sighed Kakashi while pouring some more liquid beverage into the white haired man's cup. He wasn't as heavy a drinker as his companion, preferring to be able to control his mind and body at all times but he did have a warm fuzzy feeling in his gut._

"_Heaven forbid," mumbled the elder man as he downed his recently filled cup. "So she's the one that comes from that tribe of nature controllers isn't she?" he asked indicating he wanted another refill._

"_They don't control nature," interrupted a quieter girl's voice._

_Both men turned to look at the young girl standing in her pyjamas in the doorway to the living room. It surprised them both that she had managed to sneak out of her room unnoticed. Maybe the alcohol really was starting to get to them. _

_Kakashi's friend turned his body slightly more to regard the girl better. She looked no older than twelve and yet the dark look in her eyes betrayed the fact that she had seen more than a twelve year old should have. That was the shinobi world though, you either toughened up or you died. "So if they don't control it what do they do?" he asked._

"_Nature isn't something a person can control" she began slowly, "shinobi use chakra to create their own elements from the spiritual energy in their body or to meld a certain element into taking a certain form… but no one can actually control nature. My mother's tribe understood that, they appreciated all the natural resources they were given and thanked the earth for it. Whenever they used their shamanistic techniques it wasn't that they controlled nature, it was because they knew how to ask the environment for help…and the environment gave them what they needed." _

_The three individuals stared at one another for a while before Akari spoke up again. "I've told you about me, and I don't really appreciate the fact that you were talking about me behind my back, but I've explained what you wanted to know so answer me this: Who are you?"_

_The elder man grinned before getting up extravagantly and started jumping on his right foot in a side wards motion introducing himself as the great toad master Jiraiya before he tripped over in his drunken state and rammed his big toe into the couch before proceeding to hop up and down in pain. The young girl sweat dropped at the sight before turning around and going back to her room having clearly lost interest._

The memory made him chuckle as he stared down at the battlefield not once having lost eye contact with what was going on. Turning slightly, he directed his attention towards his students.

"You could say that," he answered Sasuke, not really concerning himself with the details; Akari could answer their questions better once the exam was over. "However, like her bloodline limit, it does have certain weaknesses or rules that go with it," he pointed down at the fighting couple below making them all turn to look at their teammate. "The first would be that she can't ``control'' what isn't there which explains why she's only using earth" he explained as they watched as Akari avoided and aimed continuous medium sized boulders at her enemy. Now that he had seen her technique he was avoiding them better however her senses were still heightened from synchronizing with her summon making his moves more predictable.

"See the concrete floor still attached to the ground," said Gai, pointing to the grey tiles sticking firmly in place where they had been ripped up from, "had that concrete been thicker she wouldn't have been able to get the ground to break it, the reason the floor here is so thin is because during battles it gets damaged easy so the thinner it is, the easier and cheaper it is to replace."

"The second weakness," continued Kakashi, "is that she can't manipulate her surroundings in any way that it wouldn't be found in its natural state, a look see what I mean," he said interrupting his explanation to make sure their full attention was on the battle below.

At that precise moment both teenagers used their psychic powers to levitate pieces of rock that had come loose and sent them flying at one another only to have them crash into each other forming clouds of dust and dirt.

"Ah I get it," said Sakura excitedly.

"Get what Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto trying to keep up with the drastic turn of events.

"In nature rocks don't float or fly that's why Akari-san uses Seishinryoku to levitate them and throw them as missiles," she explained to her teammate.

"Very good Sakura, a textbook answer," said Kakashi giving her his crinkled one eyed smile.

While Naruto still looked slightly bewildered, Sasuke turned and looked up at Kakashi. "And weakness number three?" he asked. The way Kakashi had been enumerating them made it clear that there was at least one more restriction.

"The third is the most obvious out of the lot," replied the older man as he turned his attention back to the battlefield. "Because no chakra is involved in the techniques they make up for a very poor attack, it's like the elemental chakra weakness grid," he said, however one glance at his students told him they had clearly gotten lost. He repressed the urge to sigh before reminding himself that none of them apart from Sasuke could use elemental Jutsu's, and it was obvious that the stoic boy didn't realize the depth of the situation.

"Allow me to explain Kakashi," interrupted Gai by patting his rival on the shoulder. Somewhere throughout the talk, Kakashi had forgotten that his own students were also interested in what was happening and that none of them really understood what was going on either. "As you all know there are five basic elements found in nature; earth, air, fire, water and lightning. Each one has a strength and a weakness. When a person uses an elemental Jutsu, depending on the strength and the complexity it is ranked from D to S, D being the weakest and S being the strongest. Now for example if we were to take a D rank fire Jutsu and a D rank water Jutsu, the water Jutsu would obviously overpower the fire Jutsu because it is fire's natural weakness. However if we were to use a C rank fire Jutsu against a D rank water Jutsu, the fire would overpower the water even though fire is naturally weak against water. The same happens with elements of the same type, the stronger technique will always win."

"So if Akari-san's techniques use no chakra…" Sakura trailed off already predicting the answer to her question.

"If Sasuke were to use a D rank fire Jutsu against her in a battle and she were to attempt to protect herself with nearby water, the fact that Sasuke's attack is fuelled by chakra would make his attack stronger," finished off Kakashi.

"But then she could just control my Jutsu anyway so she wouldn't need to protect herself," said Sasuke.

Kakashi remained silent for a few seconds before responding. "You just revealed the final restriction; she can only control elements in their true form. The fact that your fire Jutsu's are created from mixing your natural elemental chakra within your body means that that fire belongs to you, because it has your chakra signature in it, she can't control it."

A series of bangs had them all whipping their heads round to looks down to the battlefield again. It seemed that once again the two Seishin members had aimed rock hard projectiles at each other. Both were panting slightly now, and sweat was beginning to trickle down their bodies before silently dripping onto the floor.

"After that explanation, you've made it clear her techniques are pretty useless in a battle," said Sasuke starting to wish this battle would end.

Kakashi chuckled lightly before responding. "Shamans aren't particularly known to be good fighters…but if Akari has shown me something it's that nobody knows her weaknesses better than she does."

The tone of pride in his voice made them look up at him slightly surprised before looking back down at their teammate. Neither of them seemed ready to give up although both of them had tattered clothes and were covered in dirt by now. Naruto gripped hard onto the railing before inhaling deeply and shouting out;

"Akari! Stop playing around with that moron and beat him up already you're getting on my nerves!"

Silence fell across the whole stadium. Most of the spectators had turned to look at the blond after his outburst. Those who knew him back from the academy just shook their heads. This was Naruto after all. He was pretty much a done deal. However their attention didn't last long on him before looking back down at the match. Neither of the two contestants had stopped staring at one another, each one of them on opposite sides of the field regaining their breaths.

'Tch who does he think he is calling me a moron,' thought Takahiro to himself. 'I thought I could end this quickly but this battle has dragged on too long, I should have been able to bring her down by now dammit! It's really hot in here,' he thought as he quickly swiped his brow to free it from the accumulating sweat his gaze not leaving her eyes, those rich dark blue eyes. Her determination was unwavering while his resolve was slowly breaking. He couldn't let this go on any longer. Straightening up he studied the battlefield in search of something to help him.

Meanwhile Akari was studying her opponent carefully. He was worn out mainly because of the stress she'd been making him feel. She knew he hadn't expected her to come this far, especially not after draining her with Robbed Memory, however recovering some of her memories had served to fuel her determination. She couldn't give up until the bitter end, but she knew she couldn't win him with any techniques from the Seishin clan and her elemental control wouldn't deliver any damage that he wouldn't be able to withstand. Although she could tell by the way he was looking at the ground sticking out from the concrete that he was confused as to how she had done it. 'None of my techniques are strong enough to defeat him, unless I manage to stab him or make him feel enough pain to make him give up I won't be able to…' realization suddenly dawn on her as she remembered her father helping her to levitate objects.

"_Listen up Akari, first and most important thing you should know is that to be able to use any of our clan's techniques you have to have a calm mind, any internal conflictions with yourself will make it harder for you to concentrate. Our feelings affect the way we think and the way we act sometimes making us do irrational things, however if you learn how to make yourself immune to conflictive emotions or at least to not let them be used against you, you'll be able to master any technique you want."_

'I can win this,' she thought, surprising herself with how strong her conviction sounded, 'right now; I know what I have to do.' Raising her eyesight to once again be staring at the boy in front of her a small smirk began forming in the corner of her mouth.

Takahiro glared slightly at the way she was evaluating him. Was she underestimating him? "The hell's so funny?" he snapped.

"Nothing really, just thinking about how to defeat you once and for all," she answered calmly. She had to do this carefully; if he read into her plan the she'd be truly stumped.

"You're a bit cocky for someone who is clearly worse off than me aren't you? Don't go getting ahead of yourself!"

"What's a matter, don't know what to say to your clansmen when you tell them you were defeated by a half blood?"

"You've got some nerve," he snarled. "That isn't going to happen because I'm gonna-"

"I will win this battle," interrupted Akari, "no matter what you say."

Takahiro's eyes widened in shock. That gleam was back in her eyes. Not the determination. But the spark that proved that what she was saying was true. But she was no different to him. In fact she was inferior. She couldn't predict the future so then why was there that damn knowing look in her eyes? The same look his superiors gave to everybody else as they crushed their opponents will and smashed it to pieces. Why was he on the receiving end? He was better than her damn it all. His eyes widened slightly as he looked down at his hand and noticed they were shaking slightly. What exactly was this feeling?

Akari studied Takahiro carefully after she spoke. She had caught him off guard and surprised the hell out of him, but it still wasn't enough. She couldn't tell what was going on through his mind but she continued to stare him down, and then, she saw what she was waiting for, a flicker of doubt had crossed his eyes for barely a second but it had been there and it was more than enough. As soon as he looked down at his hands she was beside him in a second aiming a punch straight at his face.

The poor boy blinked up in surprise not having been expecting an attack and just barely managed to teleport across the field to avoid the hit when suddenly she was right beside him again. It was risky teleporting this much when she was already really drained, but her synchronisation with Kaito was starting to wear off. This needed to end now, it was all or nothing.

Takahiro kept trying to get his baring's about him but she was quickly cornering him, keeping him on the defensive. What was with this girl? Why was she so determined to prove herself? She lived in Konoha; she didn't feel the scrutinizing gaze of the clan elders everyday so then why was she fighting so hard. Even if she did win, it would prove nothing because the truth was there were people so much stronger than him out there. His thoughts were cut short when suddenly he felt something hard press against his back. It took him a fraction of a second too long before her realized she had done that weird technique to make the earth come out of the ground and at the same time he had tried avoiding her attack by jumping backwards. Her fist connected with his face with tremendous force, the back of his head slamming into the hard rock before he felt it crumble and was sent flying across the stadium floor.

The crowd gasped as they watched him roll a few time before he sent chakra into his fists and feet to stop himself. Both of them were once again staring at each other and panting heavily now. The clock seemed to be ticking slowly, unmoving and yet at the same time the whole world was changing. It was unnerving to watch as the two figures just stared each other down, neither of them moving. The only subtle change was the glowing of Akari's eyes that kept flickering before weakening and eventually fading.

Takahiro jumped to his feet determined to give her a punch of his own when suddenly a bolder of rock shot out of the wall to his left. The pressure had caused a pipe to burst sending water flying all over the place and just as abruptly as before she was next to him, constantly pressuring him into avoiding another punch. He felt his toes get wet as she forced him onto the constantly expanding puddle and by the time he realized her arm was covered in electrical currents it was too late. Conducting the electricity like a magnet the water made a quick job of spreading the numbing sensation through his body. It wasn't enough to kill him or knock him out but he could still feel his body tensing up. It was nothing like the lighting nature techniques he'd received from training back in Kumo and in the back of his mind he faintly registered that the attacked lacked chakra in it. The attack ended as quickly as it had come and when he opened his eyes he found himself locked in a perfectly formed full body shield and he realized that with it being hers and him not being able to dispel it, he was screwed.

"You going to give up, or am I going to have to make you?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

Where was she getting her strength from?

"Give up?" he asked quietly. "Who said anything about giving up? You can't retain me here, I've seen what you're capable of, just by maintaining this shield active you're running out of energy fast," he snapped out trying to regain some confidence in his voice.

"Is that so?" she asked. Clenching her fist, she made a sharp upward movement and not a fraction of a second later a rock imitated her movement only this time the point was sharp and pierced straight through the boys flesh just above his right knee.

"What the hell is going on down there," mumbled Naruto clearly confused once more by the turn of events.

"It's no use, I can't see a thing," said Neji deactivating his Byakugan, "nothing is happening."

Murmurs were starting to break out around the crowd each asking each other what was going on, trying to confirm as if what they were seeing was real.

Takahiro grit his teeth against the pain before his eyes started glowing and he formed his own shield around himself. "If I'm in here… you won't be able to hit me, and when you run out of energy, this match will be over," he panted out.

Akari looked down on his crouched form, sweat was streaking down her face and she was breathing heavily but the glow in her eyes was unwavering. Placing her foot on the water, she channelled the natural electricity flowing through her body from her nervous system and straight towards him. The shock of once again receiving another discharge made him release his technique. Recovering from her attack he looked up at her with big crystal coloured questioning eyes. What on earth was going on?

"I know the weakest part of your shield is at the base, I've seen through it already so I'll ask you again; Give up," her hands were shaking now and the pain in her head was almost blinding but she just had to hold on for another couple of seconds.

"I'm not going-" He was cut off by his own scream as another bolder shot up dislocating his shoulder. Grabbing on to it he looked up at her fiercely, "You won't be able to hold on for much longer!"

"I don't need to hold on for much longer if I tear you apart, now give up!" she screamed as yet another bolder shot up and broke the bone in his right arm.

Tears were forming at the corner of his eyes because of the pain and his will was quickly fading away, "I… won-"Another scream escaped from his mouth when his other knee cap was shattered.

"You won't be able to be a ninja if you can't fight anymore will you," she stammered weakly, "doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Takahiro choked back the ball that had formed in his throat as he looked up into her pleading eyes. It was then that he realized that this was hurting her more than it was hurting him. Feeling the last of his resolve fade away he shut his eyes to block out those damn deep blue orbs. "I give up," he croaked out, his voice just barely a whisper.

The silence that filled the room was bone chilling and thick. And just when it seemed as if it wasn't going to end, and they were all going to drown in it…

"The winner is Seishin Akari."

His eyes snapped open as he looked over to the examiner who seemed just as puzzled as the rest of the crowd. He looked down at Akari who was on all fours panting heavily, her forehead pressed against the cold concrete as if trying to cool down a fever. She was on the opposite side of the stadium which was weird because he clearly remembered her being in front of him a second ago. His strength failing him his knees gave way making him land in a crouching position. Surprisingly the fall hadn't hurt. Looking down at himself he realized he was actually intact, not a single bone out of place. Now he was really confused and it took his drunken mind a minute to rewind and think back on what had just happened.

"I thought you… you stabbed me," he said raising his shaking hand to confirm it was really his. She was looking at him now, he could feel it. And the murmurs going through the crowds asking if she had caught him in an illusion were starting to unnerve him. "I'm immune to Genjutsu so how…" his eyes widened in shock for the briefest of seconds before he spoke out loud again, "you wouldn't have?"

"It's exactly what you think," she said, her voice breaking due to the dry roughness she was feeling in her throat.

"What on earth is going on!" shouted Naruto jumping up and down grabbing his head as if the confusion hurt.

"Fake Memory," said Kakashi in a low voice catching his students attention, "The person it's used on is forced to see something that never happened but is real, it's not an illusion, it becomes a memory forever engraved in the mind of the victim, making it impossible to distinguish what is real and what isn't. Takahiro-kuns common sense is telling him what he just saw wasn't real but his mind and body are telling him it was. It's the polar opposite of Robbed Memory."

"B-but when did you? I would have noticed if yo-…" once again his eyes widened at the realization of the turn of events. He calmed himself before carrying on in a low voice, "It was when you punched me wasn't it? From that moment onward… everything is fake?"

The girl nodded lightly, the small movement sending her head spinning. The pain was unbearable at this point and her eyesight was starting to get fuzzy.

"But the water," he began looking over to the wall which was intact, not a single mark on it. It was clear he was still trying to piece things together.

"There is no ground in the walls for me to use like that… hell, I don't even know if there are any pipes running in there," she said grimacing slightly against the wild throbbing in her temples.

"No no no, you knew, my shields weakness, you knew it and you used the water… how did you…"

She chuckled lightly at his puzzled face before wincing. "I took a wild guess," she mumbled.

"A guess?" he repeated.

"When I kicked you off of me before and you went through the wall, you came back limping so I figured, either you hadn't been able to create a full shield in time, or your shield was weakest around your feet, judging by the speed you use techniques at, I guessed it was the latter of the two options," she explained while getting to her feet. Her knees where shaking terribly and it seemed like it took all the energy she had just to stay up right.

"But, your shield was…"

"You said it yourself, you've seen what I'm capable of…I'd never be able to create a full body shield like that let alone use my elemental techniques at the same time…" she was stumbling now, slowly making her way towards him.

Still refusing to believe what had happened he scrambled for something that made sense to him. "I'm immune to illusions…I would have notice you use Fake Memory so then how? How did you fool me?"

The crowd had been looking down on the conversation like a tennis match, their heads bobbing from one side of the field to the other all interested in the outcome events. Naturally none of them had seen what Takahiro had experienced. They had just watched the two teenagers stare at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Takahiro suddenly gave up.

Akari stopped in her tracks to catch her breath before answering his question. "It's because you doubted yourself, and by me gaining the upper hand in the battle that doubt turned into fear… in other words, even if it was for the briefest of moments you, a self-proclaimed pure blood was afraid of me, someone who you deemed unworthy to fight right from the very beginning." A slight venom had crept back into her voice at this point as she continued advancing and Takahiro found himself briefly wondering if she was going to punch him and thought that if she did, he probably wouldn't do anything to avoid it. Swallowing hard, he watched as she took the last couple of steps towards him. She was towering over him now and he watched wide eyed as she held out a shaking hand to help him up.

"But you know what? It was a great fight, deep down placing aside all the bashing and childish behaviour I had fun. Thanks for such a great match." She was smiling down at him now and once again he found himself mesmerized by the depth in her eyes except this time he decided to not fight against it. It was pointless anyway, at least this way he felt better. Taking her hand he got to his feet and they remained looking at each other not realising the light grip on one another.

"I…" he began before she cut him off.

"You're more than just you clan you know," she said sadly, looking at the ground her eyes strangely unfocused.

He blinked in surprise for a couple a seconds waiting for her to continue. What was it about this girl that kept him in a constant state of bewilderment?

Her breathing had evened out now and her body had gone numb, even the throbbing in her temples went by unnoticed. "It's okay to protect the ideals of your clan and to defend your clansmen, but… don't let them dictate who you should…be" she trailed of, the last of her strength leaving her as her body fell prey to the law of gravity making her fall backwards.

Tightening his grip around her hand he pulled her towards him and caught her limp form to stop it from receiving any further damage. He could hear the medic team mobilizing themselves behind him and in no time they were by his side pulling open a stretcher and praying her unconscious body from his arms.

"How pathetic," muttered Sasuke watching the scene unfold below them. He had been expecting his teammate to be a better fighter.

"What was that Teme?" growled Naruto, his male comrades words bursting the happy bubble Akari's victory had created.

"I said it was pathetic, she won because she got lucky, had that guy managed to last a couple of minutes longer in his dream world she would have collapsed from exhaustion and he would have won the battle… nothing great about that."

Before Naruto could respond by creating a heated argument Kakashi interrupted effectively shutting the blond up. "Do you really think that Sasuke? That she won because of luck?"

Sasuke just gave his teacher his usual aloof look as if to say 'What of it?'

"Hmm maybe she did get lucky in the end, or maybe Takahiro gave up because she forced him into a corner, but did you notice how throughout the whole battle she was analysing him and deducing her opponent's weaknesses. To be able to stand your ground, and use the battle field to one's advantage, I don't know anybody who does that better than her."

"Oh come on, she guessed his shield was weakest around his feet and like I said got lucky, it was a 50x50 chance and she took a hell of a risk when choosin-"

"And that's exactly why she won," interrupted Kakashi calmly. "Akari is the kind of person who gambles a lot with the possibilities given to her, the fact that she has a lot to lose also means she has a lot to win…it's exactly the same reason why she's so good at card games," he added jokingly making reference to the amount of times they had lost against their female companion. Card games were mind games and it was usually Sasuke or Sakura who were up against her last, their blond teammate having been eliminated the first due to his lack of foresight. Making a quick seal he appeared in the sparring area just as the medic team were making their way towards the corridor leading to the emergency room that had been set up for the duration of the exam.

"Get Genma to take her home once you've finished patching her up," said Kakashi's calm voice making the young Kumo Nin look up at him. He hadn't felt the man appear beside him.

"Hatake-san with all due respect, she's pushed herself beyond her limits she needs to be hospitali-"

"Once you've finished your job and realized that she'll be alright with an aspirin and a good night's sleep, get Genma to take her home, he should be one of the escort Jounin, it'll be an easy job for him, at least let her sleep in a comfortable bed," he continued as if he hadn't been spoken to. He knew her well enough to know she didn't need to be occupying a hospital bed for long. She'd be fine by the morning…hopefully.

Giving the Copy Nin a dirty look that clearly told him to not tell other how to do their jobs, he turned on his heel and walked away towards the door after his colleagues before turning and addressing Takahiro. "If you want to have that ankle fixed I suggest you follow me." Without waiting to see his decision he carried on walking down the hall.

Takahiro just stared at the doorway where the Medic Nin had been standing moments ago before letting out a deep sigh. "Dictate who I am huh?" he chuckled before limping out of the room as gracefully as he could. Now that his body had cooled down his ankle had swollen, making it difficult to walk in the tight shinobi sandles.

The rest of the crowd had now angled their attention back at the monitor on the wall getting ready to see who would be fighting next. All but one.

Orochimaru's eyes followed the male Seishin out of the room, a small grin playing about his mouth. The boy had definitely been really entertaining to watch. Maybe once he had obtained the Sharingan he could aim for a Seishin clan member again. Mental energy techniques were just too tempting to pass up. So far the Chunnin exams were going really well, they had served as a good source of information at the least. At that moment the flashing letters came to a stop announcing the next contestant's names;

Akado Yoroi Vs. Uchiha Sasuke

A wide grin split across his snakelike face. It seemed the exam was going to get so much more interesting.

**A.N: **I told you not all was what it seemed didn't I? I hope you really enjoyed the battle, they are really hard to write and by this point I hope my readers will trust me and give me a chance to create the story from here and trust me to not mess it up. I know where I want to go with this and I am ever grateful for all your support. Had Akari been created as a character to role play with I wouldn't have added the elemental manipulation techniques in fear of godmodding. But she was created to be a full character with her drawbacks and personality flaws and I wanted mysticism and spiritualism to play a great part in her life, I can only hope to have your trust and support to let me prove I can create a good well balanced story.

On a lighter note, chapter 9 probably won't take as long as this because like I said it's been haunting me for the past 3 weeks and because the picture has been finished for ages so yeah thanks to all my readers and rate, review and fav ;) Piece.


	9. Seishin no Chikara

**Yo sahisburi da na :D Sorry for the long absence, summer has been really hectic, moving and travelling are only a small part of how hectic this summer has been. Without further ado i leave you chapter 9. Title means 'The power of the Seishin'**

**Fav and review pretty please ;)**

**~Seishin no Chikara~**

She'd been staring up at the ceiling for a while now, relishing in the feeling of absolute relaxation that was currently invading her body. Mustering enough strength to turn her head to look at the clock that was perched high up on the right hand side wall, she grimaced at the fact that it was nearly 11 o clock. She hadn't lain in this late for a long time. Deciding enough was enough, she tipped her legs over the side of the bed and stretched, enjoying the feeling of her back bones popping before something on the floor caught her attention. Her sandals, back pouch and kunai holster were all stacked neatly by her bedside table and it was then that she realized she was still wearing her shinobi attire and had used it as a pair of pyjamas. Yep the bed sheets were definitely going into the wash along with the rest of her clothes. Picking up her bathrobes she made quick work of ridding herself of her grimy attire before jumping into a warm shower, washing away a weeks' worth of dirt and sweat.

Fifteen minutes later she emerged from the steamy bathroom, drying her hair as best as she could with a towel before getting dressed. For some reason she had a strange feeling nagging her. It was almost as if she was forgetting something, something important. Pulling out a set of clothes she shuffled into them before doing her hair up in its usual pigtails. Grabbing a spare back pouch from her cupboard she then proceeded into the kitchen for a late breakfast. Or an early lunch, it depended on your point of view. She was forgoing her kunai holster and usual short top, preferring commodity over practicality for the day, although even then her uniform had barely changed. Her hooded sweater was the same rich blue as her top except for the sleeves which were the same colour lilac as her kunai holster and her shorts had been changed from their usual black to a dark brown.

Entering the kitchen she opened up the pantry and fridge before sighing heavily. It seemed that in her week absence the place had been raided of every morsel of food in existence. Her stomach gave a very load unladylike rumble as if to rub in the fact that she was starving which was weird because she normally had to force herself to eat breakfast. And once again there was that nagging feeling in the back of her head that something was off. Shutting the fridge door a piece of paper stuck to the metallic door by a magnet caught her attention. Pulling it out from under its confines she realized Kakashi had left her a message and the only reason she realized it was from him was because it was completely illegible.

"Scribbles like a two year old," she grumbled under her breath as she flipped the paper around. It baffled her how the man was capable of writing the neatest looking kanji for sealing techniques and summoning scrolls and yet he seemed incapable of writing properly when he had to fill in mission reports and other messages. More than once it had crossed her mind that he did it on purpose just for the fun of it. Two load puffs in the living room alerted the girl that she was no longer alone in the house although it did little to deter her concentration.

"Something uke? Sauce-kay? Something Sasuke!" she said slowly unravelling the mystery message just as two canines rounded the corner into the room.

"Yo!" said the small pug lifting up his right paw in salute. The dog sitting next to Pakkun went by the name of Akino, his tan brown fur and glasses making him stand out from the rest of the ninken pack. He sniffed the air before nodding lightly.

"When was this written?" asked Akari sounding exasperated as she rounded on the dogs.

If either of them were taken aback by her abruptness they didn't show it. Instead Pakkun drawled back in his usual lazy manner; "Yesterday." No wonder it was said dogs were just like their owners.

"Yesterday as in after the exam?" said the girl fumbling for a clear timeline.

"No yesterday as in the day after the exam and you've slept a full 24 hours," replied Akino sounding bored.

Eyes widening slightly for a second at the newly received piece of information her shoulders slumped in a manner that said she had been caught by surprise. No wonder she was feeling weird. Her internal clock was telling her it was Monday when her head kept telling her it was Sunday. "So, why are you here?" she asked, straitening up.

"We were hoping to get a bite to eat," said Pakkun nonchalantly, his back foot scratching at his neck fiercely.

"Yeah well join the club, there's nothing edible around here" replied the girl.

Both dogs shrugged as if it was no big deal before looking at each other and nodding. "Don't matter we'll just go scrounging around the dumpsters for a while," said the smallest of the two dogs. With that said and a final wave the two dogs disappeared in clouds of white smoke.

Sighing Akari looked down at the small note again. It seemed she was just going to have to go out for lunch. A small knock on the front door had her steering in the general direction of the noise her eyes not leaving the piece of paper clutched in her hand. Was that an 'f'?

'F-ing Sasuke?' Hmmm, somehow that didn't sound quite right. Reaching the door she unlocked the security bolt just as realization dawned on her. "Oh, training Sasuke" she chuckled, highly pleased with that fact that she had unravelled the meaning of Kakashi's pathetic excuse of handwriting. Finally unlocking the door, she swung it open and came face to face with a smiling Sakura. Akari blinked a couple of times in confusion.

"So you really do live here" she chirped apparently highly amused.

"Naruto shot off at the mouth didn't he?" replied Akari, shoulders slumping forward in exasperation for the second time that morning.

It was Sakura's turn to blink in surprise; "No actually you did… when you were talking to Orochimaru… wait Naruto knew?" she asked in disbelief.

Smiling she sighed before stepping aside to allow the younger girl in. It had been obvious from the start that her teammates would eventually learn of her strange roommate agreement situation with Kakashi. She just hadn't expected it to happen so soon. Walking down the hall and back into the kitchen she turned the kettle on as she offered her teammate a seat. "So what did you want to talk about? I'd offer you something to eat but I've only got tea," she said.

"It's okay, I've already eaten. I thought I'd drop by before going to see Sasuke-kun at the hospital. I've got the third part of the exam match ups," she explained retrieving a folded piece of paper from her pocket.

"Sasuke's hospitalized?" asked Akari genuinely concerned just as the kettle let out a shrill whistle alerting her of the boiling water. She must have read Kakashi's note wrongly them. He wouldn't be able to train Sasuke if said boy was currently hospital-

'He wouldn't…' she thought to herself her mouth pressing into a grime line as the mental image of Kakashi and Sasuke fleeing the hospital to go training while one was severely injured invaded her thoughts.

"Yes he kind of collapsed after his preliminary match. Visits are only opening up today, wanna come?" said the rosy haired girl, oblivious to her teammates discomfort as she unfolded the paper in her hands and slid it across the table towards her partner.

"No, I think I'll pass today," she replied setting two mugs of steaming tea on the table before studying the paper. "Both Naruto and Sasuke passed," she said smiling before looking over at her teammate and raising an eyebrow.

"I got paired against Ino and we both lost," she shrugged guiltily before looking into her cup at the swirling contents to distract herself.

Akari's eyebrows rose to her hairline in surprise, "double K.O, that's extremely rare," she commented surprised before looking back at the list. "Who's Dosu?"

"One of those Sound Nin that attacked me back in the forest, and the only Sound nin to have made it through to the third round. You're paired up against him aren't you?" said Sakura her voice shaking slightly.

Akari nodded staring down at the name on the paper engraving it into her mind. She wasn't one to swear vengeance, but he would definitively hear her out when they fought. "Any tactical information I may need to know about him?"

Sakura shrugged slightly before admitting that his match against Choji hadn't revealed more than what they already knew of him from his fight against Lee.

"Oh well, I've got a month to dwell on it I suppose, and once I defeat him I'm teamed up against either Shikamaru or Temari depending on which of them passes the first round," she commented, a flurry of possibilities and calculations passing through her mind.

Sakura smiled slightly at her teammate's confidence. '_It's good to have confidence in your abilities, but that cocky attitude will get you killed someday'_ is what she had told Sasuke way back in their really green days. It was funny how the older girl always seemed to have just the right amount of confidence in herself. Twirling a finger around the top of her mug waiting for the warm liquid to cool a bit she stared up at the girl sitting opposite her shyly. "Ne, Akari-san, how did you come to live here? With Kakashi-Sensei I mean?"

Akari looked up from the paper in her hands slightly taken aback from the question. "Hmmm how indeed," she said a slight smile playing about her lips. "It's a long story."

Sakura shrugged and sat up straight, a sign that gave away how badly she wanted to hear the reason.

Sighing, she took a deep breath before beginning. "When I was ten, my teammates and I made it to the second part of the Chunnin exam. I can't really remember what we were supposed to do but I remember we got separated. When I found them they were both dead," she explained unravelling the fragments of memory she could see clearly from the blurs. "I ended up running back home, overwhelmed by a sense of panic and insecurity, actually it was more like I didn't know what else to do…" she paused to drink before continuing, "both my parents were dead too and with nowhere else to go, I ran to the abandoned lab I constantly trained in to become stronger and prove myself to my team. Turns out it was one of Orochimaru's labs, the whole place was wired with cameras and microphones, although the ANBU disabled them when they sealed the place off, someone went in there and fixed them again."

"But if the ANBU sealed the place off how did you get in there?" inquired Sakura.

To answer her question Akari tapped her temple lightly with her finger. "Genjutsu immunity; I saw right through it and being the naïve ten year old I was, nothing was more tempting than a sealed off area" she shrugged before continuing. "Orochimaru was probably spying on me the whole time I trained there and when that creep sees something he wants he'll go to any length to get it. His spy probably did all the dirty work and all he had to do was feed me stories of being targeted and how he would help me catch my teammates and parents killer to have me wrapped around his finger," she explained sounding highly ashamed of herself.

Sakura couldn't really see why she should feel ashamed. A ten year old who had run away to the only place she figured safe after finding her friends and family murdered and then leaning on the only person that seemed trustworthy in her frail and confused state wasn't something to be ashamed about. "You said something about a spy?" she said pulling her teammate out of her mourning.

Akari nodded before proceeding. "At the time Orochimaru was already a Missing Nin although I knew nothing of it, he couldn't really come waltzing right in to Konoha to kill a couple of people, and even if he could, he wouldn't bother himself with something so trivial. Besides it wasn't him who killed them. At least not my parents. After a week in the forest my teammate's bodies had been mauled by so many animals they were lucky their bodies even turned up."

"How can you be so sure? That he didn't personally kill your parents. He could have been lying to you back in the forest."

Akari shook her head solemnly. "No it wasn't him. The autopsy revealed that my parents were probably killed by someone they knew personally. They wouldn't have been caught off guard if it were Orochimaru, at least not my dad, as rusty as he may have been at the time. My best guess is it was a spy, someone who looks and acts like a Konoha Nin but recollects Intel for Orochimaru, and if I'm not mistaken, whoever it is, is probably in Konoha now keeping an eye on Sasuke."

Sakura's eyes widened in horror at the thought of their teammate being Orochimaru's next target. "B-but then we should get to Sasuke-kun and-"

"Sakura," said Akari, cutting her companion off abruptly, "Kakashi and the Hokage are already on to it. They'll both do whatever they can to keep him safe. The best we can do for Sasuke right now is put our faith in them." She said. She hadn't promised her companion they would keep him safe. She wasn't stupid enough to do so. It was pointless to promise things you weren't sure you could keep, and in the ninja world so many things could go wrong in a matter of seconds.

"You believe Kakashi-sensei, can protect Sasuke-kun from Orochimaru?" asked Sakura weakly.

"I trust him," she replied with a small shrug, "that's enough for me."

Silence reined the room for a while as both girls sipped quietly at their tea until Sakura decided to break the spell. "You didn't finish explaining how you ended up here."

"Well once Orochimaru found out I was useless to him and let me leave I battled my way back to Konoha. Kakashi and his team found me on their way back from a mission and a year after interrogations, medical exams and what not I ended up here by order of the Hokage. Kakashi was supposed to keep an eye on me to make sure I didn't get into any more trouble or my seal didn't go haywire and by the time I'm fifteen if all is well I'm free to leave," she explained.

"That's it? You're not giving me any details," asked Sakura clearly let down.

Akari shrugged. "What kind of details did you expect to hear?"

"I dunno! What was it like when you first got here? What did Kakashi think? How did you adapt? Why you stopped using those abilities passed down to you from your mother, that sort of thing, you know?"

Akari looked down into the slowly twirling contents in her mug, which by now was only half full as she remembered when she first walked through the front door, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Well, it all started off…"

_Key turning in the lock he swung the door open and walked in, a smaller girl following suit as they walked down the hallway before coming to a stop at a door on the right hand side wall._

"_This is your room," said Kakashi gruffly as he watched her dump her small suitcase by the door. The room was small, although it was bigger than his. That was the main reason he had changed it into a training room although now it seemed that was going to have to change. "Sorry about the exercise machines and weights, I'll get round to clearing them out soon," he sighed. _

_Akari gave the room a quick once over before shrugging and walking back into the hallway._

"_This is the living room and through there is the kitchen, help yourself to anything in the fridge. Bathroom and washroom are those two doors there," he said pointing down the hall, "and at the far end is my bedroom. Under no circumstances that aren't life threatening are you to go into my room, whether I'm at home or not is irrelevant, understood?"_

_Akari nodded before turning and looking over at the bookshelves which took up most of the space in the living room. They were crammed from top to bottom with books all different sizes and colours. Kakashi hadn't missed this small interaction between the girl and his books although it was short lived as he watched her turn, walk into her room and shut the door behind her._

_Two days passed like this in which he barely saw her and when he did he always caught her eying the numerous volumes on the shelves in the living room before locking herself up in her bedroom again. On the third day of absolute silence after arranging an array of takeaway leftovers on the table he frowned as he stared at the closed door of her bedroom. Had she eaten anything since she had been here? If she was waiting for him to tell her dinner was ready she was in for a disappointment. He was her guardian not her mother and she was practically twelve and a former Genin. She should be perfectly capable of looking after herself. At least that's what he told himself as he strode across the hall towards her door. Truth was having someone in his house was unsettling his nerves and seeing as he __was__ supposed to be keeping an eye on her, her constant retreats were starting to wear down his patience. Opening the door and peering in he found the girl sat cross-legged at the far end of the room meditating. Her chakra level was rather low; he had noted that the minute he had met her which had also intrigued him as to why her former Sensei thought her ready for the Chunnin exams two years ago, however now it was excessively low due to the fact that she was constantly increasing and decreasing the flow running through her making the energy rebound through her whole system almost like a wave. However years of experience had taught Kakashi that no matter how much one meditated, their chakra levels wouldn't increase if they didn't train their body. It was a wall most weak ninja bumped into. The same happened to strong ninja who only trained their body though. They eventually reached a dead end mentally and instead of picking up a book and exercising their minds they gave excuses for all their failures._

"_There are some leftovers in the kitchen," he said before he could stop himself. 'So much for not mothering her' he thought to himself glumly._

_Akari opened her eyes and stopped the flow of chakra within her and nodded. Getting up she walked out into the corridor heading towards the kitchen area. She hadn't really expected him to tell her to eat anything, hoping if she stuck to herself he'd just let her be. Apparently she had misjudged him. Sitting down at the table she served some food on her plate and picked up a set of chopsticks. She heard rather than saw Kakashi sit down opposite her._

"_So why were you meditating?" he asked attempting small talk._

_Akari shrugged while poking the chicken on her plate, "It's a form of training right?"_

"_Yeah but you're not really a ninja anymore are you? You haven't been on any active duty for almost a year now."_

"_Doesn't mean I've officially resigned. Once a ninja always a ninja right?"_

"_You're going to be off duty until you're fifteen and you expect to just hop back like nothing's happened?" he asked pushing his empty plate away. He watched her eye it before looking up at his masked covered face, gave him a look that read something along the lines of 'I couldn't really give a damn' before going back to poking her own meal. Okay so she was going to act broody. He could deal with that. He'd been an egotistic dick at her age and he had a great amount of patience. He'd find a way of cracking her into feeling something soon enough._

"_Never said anything about it being easy," she commented lightly with another light shrug._

"_And when you do get back on duty then what? Rise in the ranks to try and gain some sense of fulfilment? Take on as many missions as possible hoping to find some sort of objective in life? Go on a vengeance spree?" he asked. Not that he had any interest in her actual answers. He was just a man on a mission really. Keep her watched closely._

"_And what would the point in that be? It's not going to bring any of them back," she muttered._

_That answer was one he hadn't really been expecting although he didn't let it show. There was absolutely nothing in her eyes. No emotion what so ever and it was really starting to bother him. The lack of tears he was grateful for. He didn't think he could handle a girl her age breaking down into a fit of tears in front of him. But there was no anger either, no blood thirst, fear, happiness or enthusiasm. Nothing. _

"_Thanks for the meal," she muttered before placing her dirty plate in the sink and walking away._

_Following her he watched her once again eyeing his bookshelves fingering the spine of one of the oldest volumes he had._

"_You constantly look at my books, d'you ever read?" he asked this time out of curiosity mainly because of the book she was staring at. To his surprise though, a small smile played about the corners of her mouth as she retrieved the book off of the shelf and admired the cover in its old withered state._

"_To Kill a Mockingbird, it was my dad's favourite; I first read it when I was seven…we always talked about how he would help me build up my own small library at home when I grew older…but I guess I'll have to do that on my own now…" her voice dropped slightly as she shared that small piece of information with him._

'_Oh? Friend of the classics, seemed like there was some human in her after all.' He watched her as she let out a sigh before placing the book back in its place and then once again secluding herself in her room._

_A couple of months went by in this state until one day Kakashi decided to drag her out to the training grounds._

"_What are we doing here?" she asked the older man. Was there a note a curiosity in her voice?_

"_You constantly meditate, I thought you might like some physical activity for once" he stated shutting his book with a snap. Her features flickered in surprise briefly before she composed herself._

"_What's this about Kakashi?"_

"_I just told you, today we're sparing."_

"_Why?" she asked sounding sceptical._

"_Because I said so," he replied stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Here's how it goes, you hit me once and I'll pay for tonight's meal, if you don't manage to hit me you'll be doing all the washing up for a month," he finished off his eyes curled into inverted U's indicating he was smiling._

"_Why the hell would I willingly sign myself up for a months' worth of washing up? It's hardly a fair trade," she said giving him a 'do you really think I'm stupid?' look._

"_All the more reason to give it your all and try to at least get a free meal," he chuckled._

"_Forget it," she grumbled as she turned her back on the Jounin and started walking away before an intense pain had her knees giving in as she clutched her stomach in pain. _

"_First rule to shinobi survival, never turn your back on your enemy," Kakashi stated matter-of-factly from somewhere above her. The bastard had punched her in the gut._

"_This isn't an academy lesson jerk, that hurt," she said getting to her feet and sidestepping him. If her insult had offended him he didn't show it. If anything it humoured him._

_She had made it about ten meters away from him when suddenly he was aiming a punch at her face. To his surprise though she managed to block it, using the force of his punch as leverage to jump away from him feet scrapping the ground as she skidded to a halt._

'_Oh? She'd had her guard up' he thought to himself enjoying the irritated look she was giving him. She was finally starting to show some emotion, even though it was currently directed at him._

"_Will you cut it out already," she growled out._

"_Hmm," he raised his hand to his chin feigning thinking before he responded flatly, "nope."_

_It was all the warning she had before she was jumping in the air as another Kakashi, presumably a shadow clone sprang out of the ground aiming for her legs. Grabbing on to her, instead of sinking her into the ground as he had originally intended he used the new position to slam her face down into the ground before disappearing in a puff of smoke._

"_Shinobi tactical knowledge number three: Ninjutsu," he said, from his previous position watching the brunette sprawled on the ground. His eyes widened slightly when she raised her head and glared at him, her eyes glowing slightly before she disappeared. Years of experience in avoiding being caught off guard had him turning on his side to catch the kick she had aimed at his ribcage. It seemed she was very flexible to be confident enough to aim that sort of kick with the difference in their heights. Wrapping his fingers around her ankle he was once again surprised when she twisted her body in the opposite direction aiming her other leg at his face. Catching it lightly with his other hand he watched as she dropped her front to the ground holding herself up in a handstand before turning forcing her legs out of his grip and summersaulting away putting some distance between them._

'_She's good,' he thought. She had managed to break his hold on her because he hadn't been expecting her to be able to do that. She had great flexibility and movement and if she trained daily those kicks could really do some damage._

"_You forgot the basics __sensei__; Shinobi tactical knowledge number one: Taijutsu" she smirked relishing in his surprised expression._

"_I really didn't expect you to be a close range combat fighter; you surprised me, your taijutsu is quite impressive for someone who hasn't trained regularly for the past year," he admitted._

_She grinned at the compliment before crouching and teleporting behind him, right hand raised to punch him. Sensing where she was coming from he sidestepped her attack when she was suddenly coming at him from his left hand side. He had to hand it to her, that teleporting technique she could use was very useful. _

"_However," he began as he once again avoided her oncoming attack, "you're going to have to be better than that to land a hit," he finished off by grabbing her wrist and twisting it causing her arm to bend behind her back._

_Gritting her teeth against the pain she swung her free arm to try and grab onto him, her stomach clenching when she felt his hand wrap around her arm easily. She struggled slightly when she heard him whisper darkly in her ear causing her eyes to snap open as she saw a shadow clone making his way towards then, raising the bandana that was covering the Sharingan in the process; "Shinobi tactical knowledge number two: Genjutsu," and suddenly everything went dark and her body fell limp._

_Sighing Kakashi freed her arms letting her body fall to the ground wondering how long it would take her to wake up when suddenly he was cartwheeling backwards narrowly avoiding a sharp kick to his chin. 'When did she?'_

"_That level of Genjutsu won't work on me," she stated casually while smirking obviously pleased with the fact that she had made him drop his guard._

'_That level of Genjutsu? It was a C-rank technique how could she have…' he began thinking when suddenly the Hokage's words crept to the front of his mind; _"_It's relevant because she is practically immune to it__."_

'_So this is what Hokage-sama was talking about,' he thought as he watched her smiling features. And then realization hit him like a ton of bricks; she was enjoying herself. For practically the whole battle she had actually been enjoying herself. 'This girl… she was born to be a ninja, natural immunity to illusions topped with great flexibility and keen instinct, with training she could be one hell of a kunoichi, there's no way I'm going to let her be off duty until she's fifteen.' _

_When she got into a fighting stance he raised his hand causing her to blink surprised. "We should leave it here for today," he said._

"_Scared of losing?" she mocked._

_He chuckled lightly as she made her way over to him. "Not quite, I've just remembered I've got some business to attend to but we should spar again sometime. Maybe next time you could use those nature techniques you got from your mom…" he trailed off when he realized she was no longer walking beside him. It seemed like he had crossed a line._

"_Was that what this was all about?" she asked somewhat angrily._

"_Huh? No I was just saying-"_

"_Listen Kakashi I will train with you anytime, but never mention that ability ever again in my presence," she stated sternly before walking off._

"_Why not? I was onl-"_

"_Because it's because of that technique that my parents were killed in the first place," she muttered fists clenched by her side._

_It looked like he was going to have to take small steps with her as it felt like they were back to square one but he couldn't help but feel like he had managed to bring her walls down slightly. Taking longer strides to catch up with her he nudged he arm slightly before speaking. "You're still doing the washing up for a month."_

_She turned to look at him sharply, "Why the hell should I? You forfeited, I was still willing to fight, and in any case it's you who owe me a meal."_

"_Ah but you see, with the strength you have now you wouldn't have been able to hit me, I decided enough was enough and spared you the pain you would have endured from there on out," he chuckled._

"_You liar," she snarled pointing an accusing finger at him. _

"_As if I'd lie to you," he replied winking at her and in that instance she understood this was his way of apologising for overstepping his boundaries. She smiled lightly and accepted his words even if it did mean she'd have to wash up for a whole month._

_Four months went by in which they trained with each other regularly and Kakashi found that the more time he spent with the young teen, the easier it became to live with her. She had at some point during his short absences when on missions picked up on most of the household duties making him wonder how he used to manage without her. One day he came home to find her cooking something that smelled like beef stew. Deciding to trust his nose which had yet to fail him he sat down at the kitchen table before looking up at her concentrated face. _

"_I've been speaking to the Hokage about you lately," he began tentatively knowing how she disliked being talked about behind her back. She turned from the pot in front of her to stare at him surprised. Her lack of words made it known she was waiting for him to carry on. "I've explained to him about our training sessions and about how much you've improved and he eventually came to an agreement with me."_

"_About what?" she asked._

"_Do you know why you were taken out of the mission roaster until you turned fifteen?"_

"_When I first came back it was because the council and the Hokage were trying to determine if I was a spy or if I a posed a threat to the village. When it became apparent that I wasn't and my mind had genuinely been erased they kept me off duty because they didn't know how stable my cursed seal was. Deciding to wait a certain period of time to see how it would evolve from there they made me come and live with you, to grow up in a moderately normal atmosphere where you could keep an eye on me in case anything went wrong because you could perform a sealing technique if needed. As far as I'm concerned they are waiting until I'm fifteen because fifteen is the age in which a shinobi is considered an adult and responsible for their actions therefor rendering the need for a guardian useless, if I did anything irrational after the age of fifteen I'd be answering to the council and depending on how serious my crimes were I could end up in prison," she answered him._

_She knew more than she had ever let on, he thought to himself and the only reason she had made him aware of that was because she trusted him. He nodded letting her know she was right before continuing, "Well, like I said I've been speaking to the Hokage and he's agreed to put you back on the mission roaster for D-rank missions and easy C-ranks that don't require a team to complete, only if," he explained while raising a hand to stop the smile spreading across her face, "you agree to be part of the team of Genin I choose whenever I choose one. That way I can still keep an eye on you and you can ease your way back into the job slowly," he finished off._

_He suddenly found himself being hugged causing him to blush slightly in embarrassment and to hold his body stiffly not knowing how to react when he heard her whisper a choked thank you. He smiled lightly petting her head before she pulled away to turn the hob off._

"_But once you're fifteen you're still getting kicked to the curb," he warned affectionately._

"_Of course," she replied happily while placing two bowls of beef stew in front of them, "just thinking about not having to wash your clothes anymore is what keeps me sane."_

"_I'm sure we can come to some arrangement, we wouldn't want you loosing practice" he teased as he placed his empty bowl in the sink and began washing it._

"After that, we eventually started getting along with each other and living together became natural," said Akari finishing of her tea in one large final swig.

"Ehhhh? That's it? You can't just cut off half way through like that," bellowed Sakura standing up slapping both hands down onto the table.

"Well you see it's just that-" a load rumble cut her off mid-sentence and made both girls look at the source of the noise. "I'm hungry" she finished off sheepishly scratching the back of her head.

Sakura sighed before looking up at the kitchen clock. "Just as well," she began, "I agreed to meet up with Ino before going to the hospital."

"Ino? I thought you two didn't get along," stated Akari making her way down the hall with Sakura and walking out the front door.

"We didn't, but a lot happened during our match and we went back to being frenemies," replied the pink haired girl.

Sakura briefly went over the important details as they made their way down the three flights of stairs before the two girls bid each other goodbye and went their separate ways.

Wandering aimlessly down the street Akari worried herself with finding a place to have a cheap meal when she heard someone call her name. Turning she eyed the rather tall individual who had called her before a grin broke out on her face. "Jiraiya, long-time no see!"

"Looking good kiddo, how you been? Still living with Kakashi?" he asked crossing his arms watching the girl approach him taking in her figure. The last time he had seen her she was barely thirteen and now here she stood, grown, a girl with traces of the woman she would blossom into but not quite there yet.

"Yeah… How come you're in town? Not published another one of those books have you?" she asked her smile pressing into a grime line.

"Humph a kid like you wouldn't be able to understand the masterpieces I create," he said glaring down at her, "but to answer your question no, I haven't, but one day a third volume _will_ make its way into the market. For now I'm only here for busine-"

"ERO-SENNIN!"

Both cringed slightly at the load noise. Akari knew that voice all too well, shifting slightly to look around the sannin standing in front of her she saw her blond teammate rushing towards their current position. It was then that she summed two and two together and looked up at the white haired man standing beside her. "Ero-sennin… pft."

"Don't you start, you'll only make it worse," he said glaring down at the girl who was trying to control her fits of laughter. "And you," he bellowed, turning on Naruto, "I told you not to call me that!"

The blonde however was no longer listening, his attention spam being as short as it was had been redirected at the sight of the eldest member on his team. "Akari-san you're okay," he said gleefully looking her up and down.

"Oh, so you know each other?" inquired the sannin.

"Of course, she's my teammate," responded Naruto.

A short silence prevailed after the boys' statement before Jiraiya turned to look at Akari with pity. "You got lumbered with him as a teammate?"

"The hell's that supposed to mean!" screeched Naruto.

Akari giggled at the blonde's antics before responding, "He's okay once you get used to him, but how do _you_ two know each other?"

"He's going to train me this month as compensation for knocking out the substitute teacher Kakashi lumbered me with because he's going to train Sasuke-teme," Naruto explained.

The uneasy feeling of Kakashi training an injured Sasuke arose again before being abruptly squashed by the awe she felt for Naruto. Training under one of the legendary sannin, he probably didn't know how lucky he was. It seemed like she was currently the only one left with no one to train with.

"You're welcome to come along if you like," said Jiraiya.

"Huh, oh no I'll be fine I was actually just going to go get something to eat," she said waving off the invitation before mentally slapping herself. Hadn't she been so hungry she would have taken up on the offer without a second thought.

"Well we'll be training by the river behind the training grounds if you change your mind," said the Sanin before signalling to Naruto that they should probably get going if they wanted to actually get any training done.

Watching them depart Akari stared after her blond teammate smiling. As tempted as she was to accept Jiraiya's offer she'd let Naruto savour the moment. The next time they saw each other would probably be during the third part of the Chunnin exams and she couldn't wait to see how much he would grow in the short time frame. During the second half of the exam he had amazed her with the change he had managed in just a week. Deciding she would just have to wait to find out she turned right suddenly craving a couple of bowls of ramen.

"Akari-san!"

Turning after being called for the second time that morning she assessed the blond approaching her with a surprised look. "Takahiro-kun?"

Panting slightly the Kumo Nin stopped in front of her catching his breath before giving her a warm smile. "Hey, I've been looking all over for you since yesterday, but when I asked around no one would give me your address or didn't know where I could find you," he said lightly.

'It probably doesn't help that you're a foreigner and that I live in the Jounin complex,' she thought before asking him why he had been looking for her.

To her surprise he started scratching the back of his blond locks sheepishly, "Well I was wondering if we could talk?"

Was he nervous or was that just her imagination?

"Um… sure but only if you'll come eat with me," she began, "I haven't eaten anything decent since the exams started and I'm starving, if you're not in a hurry that is."

"No, it's fine, I've got nothing else to do," he replied, smile back in place after the brief pause in which he had listened to her.

"Great! Follow me."

XxX

"Here you go," said Teuchi smiling happily while placing two bowls of steaming noodles in front of the pair of teenagers.

"Wuaa thanks so much Teuchi-san," Akari practically sobbed before splitting her chopsticks and digging in savouring the salty goodness. It seemed a day without eating made them taste even better. "So, what did you want to talk about," she asked the boy sitting next to her before slurping up another bountiful amount of noodles. Turning to face her companion her face fell slightly when she realized he hadn't touched the bowl in front of him and looked rather crestfallen. "T-Takahiro-kun?"

After a brief pause, the blond sighed and turned his face before bowing slightly, "I'm really sorry," he stammered out.

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry for everything I said during our match, about the clan and about you, I mean i-" he was cut off when a reassuring hand squeezed his. Blinking he looked up into the deep pools of blue and purple sitting beside him.

"It's fine, I told you I had fun didn't I?

"B-but I did really disrespectful things to you an-"

"Moo, enough already I said it was fine," she said sternly before holding her hand out for him to shake. "Let's start over; I'm Seishin Akari, pleased to meet you."

He looked at her hand then up at her smiling face before giving her a crooked grin of his own and stretching out his hand to meet hers. "Pleased to meet you Akari-san, I'm Seishin Takahiro."

"Please no more formalities, just Akari is fine," she said turning back to her abandoned bowl of noodles and wolfing them down before they turned cold.

"Well in that case call me Hiro then, that's what my friends call me," he said finally splitting his chopsticks and beginning his own lunch. "Wow this is so good," he said looking down at the noodles amazed.

"Best ramen in the whole of Fire Country," she nodded ordering a second bowl. "You'd get along with Naruto."

"He's the blond that called me a moron isn't he," said Hiro looking at the girl beside him sternly.

"Can you really blame him," she replied grinning to let him know she held no hard feelings against him.

He sighed before pushing his finished bowl forward, chopsticks neatly placed on top before regarding the girls still eating beside him. "Listen I want to make it up to you somehow and I've been-"

"Again with that," she said exasperated looking at him seriously but stopped when he raised his hands.

"Let me finish," he began, "as I was saying, I've been thinking that you've been really cut off from the clan and all that and, well, we aren't leaving until next Monday so if you want, I could maybe train you and teach you a couple of things…" he trailed of shrugging.

Akari starred at him in shock before gripping both his hands in a flash making the blond boys eyes widen in surprise as a slight blush at being touched by an unfamiliar girl in a-none violent way made him blush slightly. "You mean that seriously? You'd really teach me a few things from the clan," she asked in utter bewilderment.

Takahiro nodded slowly not really understanding where all her excitement was coming from when he suddenly found himself being dragged out of the ramen stand barely able to register the money she had left on the counter to pay for their meals. "W-wait, where are we going?"

"I know the perfect place to train," she said focusing chakra into her feet and jumping up onto the rooftops closely followed by her companion.

"What now?"

She laughed out loud at his puzzled face. "Why not, nothing like the present huh?" she replied offering him a bright smile.

He stared after her before chuckling and picking up his pace to run beside her. "Eager aren't you?" he asked his turquoise eyes shining brightly in the sunlight.

"You bet!"

XxX

The sun was high in the sky by the time both teenagers had made it to their training spot; however the trees and the lake sparkling nearby offered a vast amount of comfort from the raging heat.

"I think we should start off with Massed energy, it's the easiest technique apart from Seishinryoku and it'll give you something else to defend yourself with in the third part of the exams."

Akari nodded looking at her new teacher seriously taking in all his words carefully. This was probably a one in a lifetime opportunity; she couldn't afford to waste a second.

"Right do you have any idea what it actually does?"

"Hmm well it's an accumulation of psychic energy so I'm guessing it will affect an opponents' psychic some way or another," she guessed.

"Close… but not quite. While it is true that Massed energy is nothing more than a bundle of energy accumulated in one's hand it doesn't exactly affect the opponent's psychic. It doesn't even affect them physically. Instead it damages their spirit," a smiled played across his lips as he watched the realization dawn on Akari's face.

"The ability to meld spiritual energy and physical energy is what enables a ninja to produce chakra. Without the spiritual part they wouldn't be able to use any Jutsu's," she blurted out piecing the information together.

Takahiro nodded in agreement before continuing, "While Massed energy doesn't completely block a person's spiritual energy it does affect it making the victim have less stamina and resistance. If the attack was strong enough it would probably also interfere with the speed they could do techniques at. Anyway now that you know what it does let's begin, start off with relaxing your body and allow your psychic energy to flow to the palm of your hand."

Akari inhaled deeply, breathing in the hot air and the smell of grass before she placed herself into a basic half standing half crouching position with her right palm stretched out slightly in front of her facing the ground. Feeling the energy flow through her, her eyes began glowing followed by the feeling of cool liquid seeping through her mind much like it did when she performed Seishinryoku.

"Hmm no, you're not doing it right," said Takahiro looking at her critically trying to pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

"How can you tell?"

"Your eyes," he replied flatly, "when we use our techniques do you know why our eyes shine?"

"Um… I've never really stopped to think about it," she admitted.

"Have you ever heard the saying 'A persons eyes are the windows to their soul'?" he asked and proceeded after she nodded lightly. "Well for us it's the same. Our eyes shine as proof of the mental power we are wielding and usually that's the only visible sign of what we are doing, but when using Massed energy the flow appears in our hands and therefor the glow in our eyes diminishes," he said holding up his right hand as it began to glow. While the shine in his eyes hadn't completely disappeared it wasn't as obvious as it normally would be. How she had failed to notice that during their fight Akari didn't know.

"So you're telling me to redirect the flow of energy from my eyes to my hand?" she asked.

Nodding he watched as she once again got into a comfortable position before beginning. Her eyes shone brightly, the glow fading before becoming intense again and then fading. He stood there evaluating her for a while before speaking again.

"Whereabouts can you perform your force shield?"

She looked up at him slightly taken aback by the sudden question. Cutting off her technique returning her eyes to their original shade of blue and purple she wiped the sweat accumulating on her brow before answering with a question of her own.

"What does that have to do with Massed energy?"

"In their essence, our techniques are all the same. I'm just curious because you can't perform a full body shield, and while I know you aren't a pure blooded Seishin I'm beginning to think that maybe the problem with you inability to perform techniques lies elsewhere," he answered walking over to stand behind her signalling for her to stay put. "Show me where you can create a shield," he asked, lowering his voice now that he was standing closer to her.

"Um, my hands, my back and my arms basically," she said while showing him feeling slightly embarrassed by her small shields now that he was here evaluating her closely and not actually fighting her.

"If you wanted to protect your head from an attack what would you do?"

She placed her arms in the shape of a cross over her face while creating a shield before lowering her arms again.

Walking to stand in front of her he grabbed her right wrist and held her arm out straight, hand wide open as if she were going to give someone a high five. "Try creating a shield in this hand," he asked while looking down at the other hand that hung loosely by her side. Once again her eyes shone brightly but no shield appeared. Motioning her to give him her other arm and to keep performing the technique as soon as her left hand came to rest beside her right hand a shield formed around them both. "I thought this would be the case," he muttered.

"What? I don't get it," she said.

"Watch closely," he instructed. He slowly began moving one arm away from the other and both watched as the further away they were from one another the paler the shield got until it seemingly disappeared. "It's not that you can't perform the technique, something is blocking you from doing so. You can't send enough energy to the places you want making your techniques unstable and lacking."

"So what should I do?" she asked relaxing her mind and looking down at the palms of her hand as her blond companion walked around her. She jumped slightly when she felt his hand rest on the back of her head.

"Psychic energy comes from our mind and flows through our whole body, but much like blood needs veins to get to where it needs to go to, mental energy also requires a pathway to move freely, the most direst pathway being our spine," he explained moving his hand from her head to trail slowly down her back following her backbone before coming to rest at the point where it joined her hips.

Ignoring the tingling sensation his fleeting touches were leaving behind she looked over her shoulder at him. "Meaning?"

"You're energy is being blocked off at some point. Instead of receiving a flow of energy you're only receiving a trickle much like a blocked up river," he said once again traveling up her spine before he stopped at the joint where her neck joined her back, "and I'm guessing your problem is here. The energy is flowing from your neck to your shoulders down to your hands which is why you are unable to create a shield using only half of your body, the energy you're receiving isn't enough. When you create a shield on your back, the flow is travelling from your shoulders down through your ribcage instead of travelling down your spine. This also explains why you are unable to create shields around your legs," he finished off returning to stand back in front of her.

They stood in silence for a while lost in thought before Akari broke it. "So what do I do to fix it?"

Takahiro chuckled before answering, "You tell me, you said so yourself during our match, our emotions fuel our power and when I doubted myself my ability to distinguish what was real and what wasn't dwindled. What conflicting emotions do you have that are supressing your ability to use your full potential?"

Once again silence fell upon them, only a slight breeze and the rustle of leaves could be heard as both looked each other in the eyes lost in thought. It seemed like hours had passed before once again Akari broke the silence. "I don't know," she whispered quietly looking down at the ground. If Takahiro hadn't been paying attention he wouldn't have heard her.

"Don't you believe in the fact that you can do it? When we fought you said your dream was to prove yours-"

"It's not that," she cut him off while turning around stuffing her hands into her sweatshirt pockets and looking across the glistening water.

"Then what is it? I can't help you if don't tell me," he whispered back, almost pleaded.

"It's not that I don't want your help, it's that I really don't know. If it was something really conflicting with my personality I wouldn't be able to use my abilities at all. But that isn't the case, the truth is, I don't know if there is something wrong with me or not…" she trailed off.

Takahiro walked over to stand beside her before picking up a pebble and throwing it across the surface of the lake, watching it as it jumped a few times before sinking below the water out of sight. "Do you think it has anything to do with your memories…" he trailed off, feeling awkward for asking the question. He turned to watch her as she scrunched up her face slightly in thought before shaking her head.

"No, it has nothing to do with that. That much I can tell," she answered.

Shifting his feet slightly while looking down at the ground he asked the question that had piqued his curiosity since their fight. "Who did that to you? What happened for you to have your memories erased? It's been churning in my mind ever since we fought and while I've managed to piece some of the information together I still don't feel like I know who you really are. I am really, _really_ sorry for what I did and I don't expect you to ever forgive me for that but… I would like to know the real you, what you've been through, who you are…" he trailed off lifting his gaze to look into her surprised eyes.

"I am who you see standing in front of you, that won't ever change, but if you really want to know, I'll tell you what I can, but I'm warning you," she began her voice growing serious before she smiled at him, "it's a long story," she said before turning around to go and sit down. He followed her and listened as she explained everything she had been through since she had left Konoha and come back, about her teammates, Orochimaru, her parents and Kakashi.

XxX

Night had fallen hours ago, the crescent moon lying lazily on its side casting glowing shadows all over town. For the lucky few that had made it through to the final part of the Chunnin exams this was just the first sleepless night of many to come in the following month as many of them refused to waste the time they had. For Akari and her current companion it was the same, although one of them was worse for wear than the other.

"Maybe we should take a break, go get something to eat," said the boy sitting cross-legged on a rock watching as the girl standing a few meters away attempted to accumulate psychic energy in her hand. While she had gotten better at controlling the flow within her and the glow in her eyes had subsided slightly she still hadn't managed to get her hand to shine at all, let alone be strong enough to mess with someone's spiritual energy.

"I'm fine, don't break my concentration," she muttered, breathing heavily. She had been at it for the past six hours none stop and it didn't take a genius to see the toll the effort was taking on her body. Her brow was covered in sweat and her hands were shaking slightly. Even her pigtails seemed to have drooped a bit giving the young girl a weary image.

Increasing the flow of energy to her hand while controlling the amount seeping from her eyes she felt the floor turn when a sense of vertigo suddenly hit her causing her knees to buckle and fall forward. Barely registering the strong back she was suddenly resting on she let out a sigh of relief and let the waves of exhaustion wash over her.

"You don't have to push yourself so hard, we've still got six more days to train together, something you won't be able to do if you starve yourself to death," said Takahiro hoisting the brunette up properly and carrying her piggyback style while turning to make his way back into the village.

"I'm pathetic, I haven't even exerted myself to be this worn out," he heard her mumble into his shoulder. He grinned slightly knowing it was a blow to her pride to be carried like this.

"You over exerted yourself during our match, no amount of sleep will make up for that if you don't nourish yourself. Besides, this is a new feeling for you; it'll take time to get used to it, although I must admit you are rather heavy," he chuckled trying to lighten the conversation.

Not having the strength to whack him round the head she satisfied herself with the indignant yelp he let out when she pulled his left cheek. The lights in the busy streets were now washing over them as with each step they wove their way deeper and deeper into the village. Nobody glanced their way once. It wasn't uncommon to see ninjas helping one another make their way back into the village after a busy day of training and it was no different for them.

"Nee Hiro," began Akari pulling the blond boys attention away from the different assortment of shops and bars.

"Hmm?"

"I can feel it now," she said quietly lifting her right arm slightly and flexing her hand while looking down at it over his shoulder, "I can feel the energy trickling down my arm leaving behind a tingling sensation in my fingers." He heard more than saw the slight smile in her voice and couldn't help but feel happy for her. He stopped suddenly causing Akari to look up at the sign of the building they were standing outside of.

"Yakiniku BBQ?"

"Is it any good?" he asked lowering her on the floor gently.

Making sure her knees wouldn't give in once again she looked inside the bustling restaurant entrance. "I've not eaten here much to be honest, I've heard the steaks pretty good although I personally prefer the spicy chicken wings," she replied while they made their way inside.

They sat mostly in silence while they placed their order thinking about everything that had happened while they were training only talking when it was called for. For some reason a thick silence had crept up on them making them feel quite uncomfortable.

"So who was your dad related to in the clan, anyone I might know?" asked Takahiro trying to open up a conversation.

"I don't really know, I've never been to Kumogakure before and I've never met anyone from the Seishin clan other than my grandmother and it wasn't until I fought with you that I actually remembered her," admitted Akari looking downcast.

Takahiro swallowed hard before forcing some water down his throat. He had opened up an awkward conversation unknowingly but he'd felt the change of tension in the air immediately. After a small break he looked into her confused eyes and clenched his fists in despair. She was missing out on so many things she didn't even know of.

"I could help you," he blurted out suddenly startling her. "You said so yourself, during our match you remembered things, I know my Robbed memory isn't perfect and I know it's painful but maybe I could help you get some more of your memories back! The seal that's in your mind, no one here has been able to break through it but during our match I managed to bend it, so maybe you should come to Kumo, I'm sure someone there from the clan could help you…even if it isn't me…then maybe you could-"he stopped when she raised her hand to stop him from speaking.

Looking down her open palms on the table she flexed them slightly while she spoke. "Thanks, I know you mean well but … asking you to try and break the seal… it's just too easy, and maybe I'm not even ready to know the truth yet, but one day I'll definitely get them back… when the time comes for me to know, I'll find out what happened to my friends and family, just wait and see" she said looking up at him resolve burning in her eyes and somehow he just couldn't help but believe her, just like he had believed her during their match. He couldn't help but grin back and give her a hearty nod. They ate the rest of their meal in comfortable silence, enjoying the mixture of flavours and spices. In a few hours they'd be out training again well into the night and it would probably be like this for the rest of the week, might as well savour the moment.

XxX

Three weeks had passed since the preliminary round leaving the wannabe Chunnin with only one more week to get as strong as they possibly could in the small time frame. It seemed like yesterday when Akari found herself by Konoha's front gates saying goodbye to Takahiro and his team.

"_It's a shame you can't stay longer and help me train," she sighed._

"_There's really nothing else for me to teach you, you've already learned the basics, just keep practicing every day and I'm sure you'll get the hang of it," replied the blonde hoisting his backpack onto his shoulders properly. In the background stood his two teammates who had forfeited the preliminary round, all three of them waiting for their teacher who was currently sorting out his teams passports with Izumo and Kotetsu._

"_Right, you three ready," asked the older man who seemed about Kakashi's age. When his three students nodded in reply he turned to Akari and mumbled a quick goodbye before walking off with his twin students in tail. _

"_I guess this is goodbye for now," said Takahiro extending his hand in front of her._

"_It was great to have met you, Hiro" she replied shaking his outstretched hand, "don't let them bully you back home," she teased._

_Nodding he turned and sprinted to catch up to his teammates. Akari watched as the four figures became increasingly smaller the further away they walked from the gates before a rush of adrenaline ran through her veins making her take a few steps forward and shout out to them._

"_Hirooooo!"_

_Four heads turned to look at her in mild surprise as she cupped her hands round her mouth. "Next time we meet, we'll be sparring as Chunnin!" she yelled out._

_All four Kumo Nin smirked as they turned and carried on walking away. Takahiro raised his hand and waved over his head letting the brunette know he had understood her. Next time they met up, they'd both be real ninjas, equals._

Akari sighed as she laid her back against the hard concrete bench staring up at the clear skies, her feet having carried her this way in the search of some isolated place where she could strategize for her upcoming fight. She had trained daily since Takahiro's departure and while her techniques had improved she didn't feel like she was ready for a match just yet.

"You're in my spot," drawled a male voice almost lazily causing her to snap out of her thoughts to look over at the newcomer. As far as she was concerned this was a public area.

"I'm… um sorry?" she said puzzled.

"Don't worry about it," he said sitting down next to her just as she sat up straight to regard him better. "Names Shikamaru, you're on Naruto's team aren't you?"

Shaking his hand lightly she nodded in response, "Akari, Seishin Akari. What did you mean about this being your spot?" she asked as she watched him lay back pretty much the same way she had been just moments ago.

He explained to her how he always came to this secluded area to look at the clouds and sleep peacefully away from all the hustle and bustle of town.

"So, what brings you here?" he asked glancing over at her.

"Um nothing really I was just wondering around and found myself here," she explained. "Shouldn't you be training for the third round?" she asked suddenly remembering he too had made it through the preliminaries.

"I could say the same thing about you," he replied nonchalantly. "I don't really care if I become a Chunnin or not I just want to get this exam over with."

"After the first round you'll be fighting me if you win Temari you know?"

"Tch troublesome, why am I the only one to have to fight women?" he grumbled.

"What's wrong with that?" she asked him taken aback.

"Women are troublesome."

Not really knowing how to respond to that sort of answer she shrugged it off as him just being lazy. Resigning herself she lay down once again and stared up at the sky. As much as she had tried to get information on Dosu, he still remained a mystery to her. All she knew for certain was that his main weapon was sound.

"So… how did you use those elemental techniques without performing any seals?" he asked glancing at the girl lying beside him.

Without looking his way she replied casually, "What makes you think I would tell you when you could be a potential rival during the exams?"

Grinning he turned his gaze back up to the sky, "I could give you information on Temari; the probabilities of you facing her are higher than you facing me."

Akari eyed him cryptically wondering if he was serious for a while before speaking; "You run a high bargain, very well let me hear what you've got."

"She's very tomboyish, much like you are, proud and confident in her abilities meaning she won't come down without a fight. While she specializes in mid to long range combat I wouldn't put it past her to be able to put up a fight in close combat, especially if she uses her fan as a club. She also has wind chakra nature and can use at least B-rank techniques," he finished off.

"Wind chakra huh? That's extremely rare… if I do go up against her I'd have to force her into close range combat, that's going to be troublesome" said Akari in a low voice more to herself than to Shikamaru.

Smirking he looked over at her wondering if her choice of words had been on purpose or if she had just used it subconsciously.

"I doubt someone with your array of techniques would have trouble forcing someone into close combat," he said.

"It's precisely because I have an array of techniques that it's going to be difficult. None of my attacks are really harmful, on a team I specialize on being a backup for the rest of my team members who have much more damaging techniques than mine… I'm not really cut out to be a solo fighter but that doesn't mean I won't give it my all," she clarified.

Shikamaru just looked at her befuddled. From what he had seen, she wasn't a shabby fighter, in fact, if anyone had the strength from the Konoha Nin that had made it through to the third round it was her.

"I kept my side of the bargain," he stated in a board voice.

After a brief pause in which she filed the newly received information to analyse it later she explained how her nature techniques worked keeping it as minimal in detail as possible just like he had.

"You don't elaborate much do you," he said stifling a yawn.

"Information in the wrong hands can prove fatal Nara Shikamaru," she said smirking at the side glance he gave her. "You may not be the best combat fighter out there, but I'm willing to bet you're a great strategist."

"Heh, seems you don't cut back when it comes to profiling do you?" he asked watching her get up and stretch.

"Nope," she grinned, "see you in the final rounds," she said while walking away. She'd relaxed enough, it was time to get back to training, the final rounds were one week away and she still had a technique to master.


	10. Sand Vs Leaf

_****_**A.N: **Hi guys, I know this has taken way too long to upload, I haven't forgotten about this fanfic, I'm just busy. Chapter 11 is in the making as is the pic but I am also working on a Sasuke centered fic and a Soul Eater one so I'm sorry if things are rather slow :( Anyway seeing as it's been ages since i last uploaded i'm typing up the points Kakash pointed out to Team 7 about Akari's nature abilities so you don't have to go back and re-read the chapter :) unless you want to of coarse.

* Akari can't "control" an element that isn't present.

*She can't manipulate things in any way they wouldn't be found in a natural state (e.g rocks don't float, fire isn't found underwater etc.)

*Because there is no chakra involved in the elements she manipulates they make a poor attack (e.g If Sasuke uses a fire jutsu against Akari and she protects herself from it using water, his attack would beat hers because his is powered with chakra.)

*She can't control other people's elemental techniques, their jutsu's are created with their chakra and therefore that attack belongs to them.

Without further ado I bring you chapter 10. Enjoy :D New picture also uploaded to DA.

_**~Sand Vs Leaf~**_

The clamor of the crowd up on the benches gazing down at the stadium in front of them grew in volume as more and more people filed into their seats excited for the upcoming matches. None of it was more than a heavy buzzing noise from the arena but it was safe to guess most of them were placing bets on which contestants would make it through the first round of battles.

Inhaling deeply as the crisp November air blew the leaves and kicked up the dust from the ground, Akari scanned the stands taking in the multitude of people all from different countries keen on watching good matches. Her eyes lingered for a while on the rosy haired girl and her blond companion taking in the crestfallen look she had before continuing their journey along the stands. She could understand her teammate's gloomy attitude. Sasuke had seemingly disappeared from the hospital a month ago after sustaining heavy injuries during the preliminary battle of the Chunnin exams and still hadn't turned up at the arena. To make matters worse her other teammate whose battle was the first up was also late and the impatience in the crowd above was practically palpable at this point.

"Trust that man to rub off on his students negatively," she heard Genma mutter under his breath, his senbon bobbing up and down with the movement of his lips.

Akari smirked lightly knowing he was referring to Kakashi's tardiness. Currently only Naruto, Dosu and Sasuke were absent from the stadium and she was starting to find it hard to repress the uneasy feeling in her gut. Kicking over a pebble she turned when a male voice yelling caught her attention and heaved a sigh of relief when she saw her blond teammate running into the stadium waving his arms about like an idiot.

'That just leaves one more to turn up' she thought as she welcomed Naruto to the arena.

"Where's Sasuke?" he asked noticing his friend wasn't present.

"We were hoping you'd know," said Genma giving Naruto a once over, hands stuffed in his pocket clearly fed up with the situation.

"Me? I haven't seen him since the preliminary test," replied the blonde checking over his shoulder towards the entrance of the arena hoping to see his teammate arriving.

"That Dosu guy hasn't arrived yet either," added Shikamaru looking over at Akari who just frowned.

"What if Sasuke doesn't get here in time?" asked the brunette worriedly as the spew of fireworks that had been going off came to a stop signalling the beginning of the tournament.

"Then he would lose by default," replied the Jounin looking up towards the stadium were the Hokage and the Kazekage sat expectantly.

Akari looked down at her feet sighing heavily. They hadn't even started the final part of the exam and already problems were cropping up. Nobody had heard anything from Sasuke for a month and the fact that they were still holding the exam while Orochimaru's location was unknown was really bothering her. The ANBU discreetly positioned around the stadium did little to cheer her up. It just confirmed that the situation was pretty dire. Her only consolation was the fact that she knew if anything had happened to Sasuke, Kakashi would have let them know.

'Unless he couldn't-' she squished that thought out of her head as quick as it had come by slapping both her cheeks with her hands. Kakashi was strong and perfectly capable of looking after himself. If a situation had arisen that he couldn't handle he would have found a way to alert the Hokage.

"He'll be here," Naruto's voice dragged her out of her thoughts and made her turn to look at him. He was gazing up at the cheering crowd his features composed barely managing to hide the glint of worry in his blue eyes. "Sasuke was really looking forward to this battle; he'll definitely make it here in time," he said turning to face her before grinning.

A small smile crept across her face as she felt her worries leave her body and gave her teammate a firm nod as Anko's words bounced up from the back of her mind.

"_Listen Akari, right now you have to focus on getting through this test, I appreciate you coming all this way just to inform us, but this is something us Jounin have to take care of."_

'Just watch me, I'll pull through this damn test no matter what it takes,' she thought now starring back up at the cheering crowd as the Hokage gave his welcoming speech. Akari tuned it out trying to relax herself before they begun but her attention was caught at the elder man's final words.

"We will now begin the main battles with the nine contestants that managed to pass the preliminaries. Please enjoy the matches."

'Nine? There are ten of us who made it through. Is he not counting the people who are missing? No, there are eight of us here now, it doesn't add up no matter how you look at it,' she thought scanning the other contestants. Shikamaru's frown let her know he didn't understand the situation any better than she did. Maybe the Hokage had messed up while making his speech. It was a possibility that didn't seem likely.

"Before we begin I would like you all to take a look at this," said Genma while retrieving a piece of paper from his flack vest. "There was a little change in the match-ups so double check to know who you will be fighting against."

Akari bit her bottom lip lost in thought upon seeing the new match-ups. They hadn't remarkably changed but the fact that it was her match that had been tampered with aggravated her immensely. She was now paired up against the winner of Shikamaru and Temari's match up.

'Of all the people to drop out it just had to be the only Sound Nin,' she thought the uneasy feeling in her stomach churning once again making its presence known. 'How am I supposed to take that lightly? What exactly are you up to Orochimaru? More importantly, the Jounin already seemed to know about this beforehand, why haven't they said anything until now?'

A light tap on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts as she turned to regard the blond standing next to her. "Oh, you're lucky, it's like you already fought your battle," said Naruto grinning at the change of events.

Akari's shoulders just slumped in resignation. Trust her blonde teammate to not grasp the seriousness of the situation. Although to be fair on him, Sasuke had decided to keep him out of the loop and not inform him about Orochimaru and the curse seals two of his teammates had.

"The rules are the same as in the preliminaries; there are no rules. The match only ends if either one forfeits or dies or unless I deem the match to no longer be able to continue. Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji stay behind. The rest of you are to go up to the waiting area," explained Genma signalling up to the small balcony between the stands.

Giving her teammate a parting squeeze on the shoulder Akari turned away from the three ninja in the arena and shuffled along with the rest of the Genin into the stadium. Each resounding slap on the concrete below her sandaled feet brought her a step closer to the waiting area, her worry increasing with the strides she took. Before she realized what was going on she was already standing on the balcony above the arena looking down at the battle taking place. She tried to concentrate on the match, she really did, but with each punch Naruto received nearing him to a seemingly inevitable defeat she found herself losing focus. Everything that was happening couldn't be a coincidence could it? Her gut was telling her it wasn't and over the years she had learned to trust gut instincts like these, but maybe she was biased on the matter.

"I don't know what's going through your head right now but I'm sure it's nothing that can't wait until all of this has blown over right? You won't be able to focus on your match if you keep worrying yourself out, not to mention you'll make your lip bleed if you keep biting it like that," whispered Shikamaru with a slight smirk.

"Your right, it's not fair on Naruto, he was after all one of my loudest supporters during the preliminaries," said Akari returning the smile all worries forgotten for the time being as she focused her attention on her blonde teammate. He was panting and in pretty bad shape. It looked like he was trying to concentrate chakra and pump it through his system while Neji mocked his efforts. His smirk was erased when red chakra started to swirl around Naruto's feet. The fact that it was visible even from Akari's vintage point of view was just proof of the massive amount of chakra coming off of her teammate in waves.

"N-no way," she heard Shikamaru stammer beside her. If her attention or anybody else's had dwindled during the match it was most certainly glued to the arena now as both teens charged at each other. After the huge explosion that kicked up enough soil to make even the group of examinees cover their eyes the stands fell eerily silent as all watched expectantly waiting for the final result.

"Neji's still standing," muttered Shino from Shikamaru's right, hands in his pocket, his sunglasses glinting in the sunlight. "Naruto fought well bu-" the rest of his statement was cut short when the crowd gasped in unison as Naruto jumped out of the ground giving Neji a final punch in the chin sending him flying backwards. Nobody spoke for a while not daring to believe the final outcome until Genma rose his arm and proclaimed Naruto the victor.

A shrill cry of 'He did it' which sounded like Sakura could be heard in the stadium just before the rest of the onlookers burst into a cacophonous chorus of cheers and claps. The stunned look on Naruto's face as he looked up at the crowd not quite believing they were cheering at him made an endearing smile break out on Akari's features.

'This is just the beginning Naruto, there's still a long way to go to reach the top,' she thought to herself.

"Oi oi, he won," stated Shikamaru looking equal amounts of bewildered and crestfallen. "Are you serious? I thought that he was in the 'not-so-cool group' like me."

"Not-so-cool group?" asked Shino his facial expression as composed as ever. The pig-tailed kunoichi couldn't help but turn to regard the weird conversation.

"He's getting all those cheers which makes him a member of the 'cool group'," he continued answering the bug masters question, his voice taking on a more resigned tone by the second. "Actually, I probably can't beat him; I'm in deep trouble…now I feel down."

"What nonsense are you mumbling now, giving up before even fighting? You'd better win your match, I'm your next opponent after all," said Akari trying to cheer up the teen beside her while giving him a light pat on the back.

"Ahh so troublesome why am I constantly pared against women," replied the pony-tailed boy leaning against the balcony railing.

"You know when you say that I dunno whether to feel offended or to pity you," replied the girl with a firm look.

A loud laughing and cheering sound had them turning around to face the door where soon after a bundle of bouncing orange and yellow emerged making them all grin unintentionally.

"Great match Naruto," said Akari beaming at her teammate.

"To tell you the truth I didn't know you had it in you," grinned Shikamaru all of his previous babbling about cool and non-cool groups forgotten as he was genuinely happy for the smaller teen.

The praising just had Naruto gushing into a flow of rambling about how he had had it all planned all along and 'did you see me when I did this and that's?' making the other Konoha examinees sigh in resignation. They would let him have his moment in the spotlight; he had earned it after all.

After ten minutes the rambling died down as they all started eyeing Genma frequently waiting for him to announce the second match which consequently had them staring at the stadium entrance wondering where the hell Sasuke was.

"Something's happening," said Shino in a stoic voice nodding towards the Jounin that was talking to Genma before disappearing in a puff of smoke, appearing once again by the Hokage's side.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," boomed Genma's voice over the relentless clamor of the crowd making them quieten down at once. "A contestant for the next match has not arrived yet; therefore this battle will be delayed and we will proceed with the next match first."

The uproar was instantaneous as the multitude made its displeasure known. It seemed many of them had been looking forward to the match with the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan in it. Akari felt more than heard Naruto's sigh of relief at the knowledge that their teammate wasn't being disqualified. This on the other hand had Akari worrying her bottom lip again. Why was Sasuke's battle being pushed back instead of simply naming Gaara the victor of the match? There had to be an ulterior motive behind the whole scenario.

"Next match; contestants Kankurou and Aburame Shino, please make your way down here," said Genma.

"Examiner I'm giving up," bellowed Kankurou making all the other contestants excluding his own teammates turn to face him with varying degrees of shock and confusion on their faces. "I'm giving up," he said once again to reinforce his previous statement, "go on to the next match."

Akari whipped her head to glare down at Genma noticing his scrunched up features and pinning him with a 'You can't tell me that's not weird' look which he chose to ignore. The onlookers were in hysterics by now at the knowledge of having yet another match cancelled and were tossing garbage all over the place.

Something was terribly wrong with this exam and both Suna and Oto were involved some way or another she was sure of it. Crazy didn't start piling up from different places if they weren't connected in some manner or form. Her knuckles were white from the strength she was gripping the railing with barely registering the fact that Genma had declared Shino winner and was waiting expectantly with Temari for Shikamaru to make his way down to the ground. His undignified yelp at being tossed over the balcony by Naruto was what brought her out of her reverie as she leaned over to check on the poor boys state down below.

"Oi oi, you could of at least let him use the staircase," she stated sternly to which the blonde just chuckled as a response before yelling at Shikamaru to 'go get her!'

One more time Akari placed her worries to one side as she found herself easily engrossed in the battle due to the intensity it had kicked off with. Temari seemed determined to end the match as fast as possible. Akari had to admit Shikamaru was right, her fan was just as good as a mace as it was a fan, it had left a considerable sized hole in the ground upon impact which could have easily smashed a lesser persons skull had they been unprepared for the attack. She couldn't help but feel overwhelmed constantly making mental notes of both Shikamaru and Temari's abilities secretly praying for her fellow ninja to win but also taking into consideration the fact that Temari would be an easier opponent to tackle. Not that the Sand kunoichi was weak, far from it, but her fighting style was more straightforward than Shikamaru's.

She inwardly squealed when Shikamaru finally managed to capture Temari with his Shadow Technique, the excitement around really intense. Leave it to Shikamaru to burst the crowds bubble by giving up. While Naruto's jaw dropped to the ground she burst out laughing clutching her stomach. She had to hand it to him, he was a strange man.

"Winner, Temari," said Genma grinning broadly at the turn of events. As both teens turned to walk back to the waiting area he called out to the blonde. "Oi wait, your next match is up," he stated matter of factly.

"Huh?" asked Temari taken aback, "I've just had my first match, it should be Uchiha Sasuke's match before the second round of battles begins."

"Ah but Sasuke's battle was postponed to the end, right now it's Seishin Akari's first battle regardless of it being your second one," he replied eyeing the approaching brunette. She hadn't needed to be called down and after a brief good luck from Naruto and Shikamaru who she had run into on the way down she now stood with her hands in her shorts pockets slightly to his right. She gave him a brief smile before turning to face her match up but Temari clearly wasn't done arguing.

"How exactly is that fair, everyone else gets time to rest, why am I the only one to fight two consecutive battles?" she growled out venom laced in with her voice.

"Haven't you heard? Life isn't fair, besides no one is forcing you to fight," he said bored letting his statement hang in the air for the girl to draw her own conclusions.

"What's the matter, not gonna give up now are you?" taunted Akari smirking adding more oil to the fire. 'If looks could kill' she thought cheerily returning Temari's glare with one of her own. After her constant state of worry and confusion at the way the day's events were unfolding she had decided to not give a damn. Right now she was surprised to find out she was actually really looking forward to her battle with Temari.

Temari replied with a small grunt and positioned herself some feet further away to Genma's left. The Jounin looked at both girls once before raising his hand and shouting out 'Begin' which was abruptly followed by male choruses of 'Go Blondie' or 'You punch that Sand bitch into the ground'.

Akari couldn't help but frown slightly not taking her eyes off of Temari who was unclasping her fan from her back and smashing it into the ground at her side. 'Great, cat calling,' she thought exasperatedly.

"I'm warning you I've already seen through the nature of your techniques," said Temari's calm demeanor from across the field. Akari's eyebrows rose to her hairline hidden behind her fringe. "I already saw what abilities you were capable of during your match against that other Seishin clan member."

"I beg to differ," replied Akari calmly, "you don't understand the half of-"

"No you're wrong, I do," interrupted the blonde making the brunettes face scrunch up in annoyance. "While I may not know how strong or understand the abilities from the Seishin clan to their full extent I am perfectly aware of how far you can go with your nature control."

'What? She has to be lying. Is she trying to turn this into a mental battle or something? Why else would she bring this up now?' thought Akari making sure her features were composed.

Genma turned his head slightly to stare at the Konoha kunoichi he knew fairly well. To those who didn't know her she seemed unfazed by the news, but Genma could see otherwise. Her jaw was too rigid to pass off as relaxed and he could tell she was going over Temari's words carefully. 'Don't let her get under your skin Akari,' he thought twiddling his senbon between his lips.

"Very well, I'm listening," replied Akari relaxing her defensive pose.

'Baka, don't let your guard down,' grumbled Genma mentally.

"Twelve years ago, my youngest brother was born. My mother died giving birth to him, not even the best Medic Nin from Suna could do anything to save her…" began Temari trailing off slightly.

Not really understanding where the blonde was going with her story Akari bit her tongue refraining herself from interrupting the older teenager.

"The day before her contractions began two people came into the village; one was an old man and the other a young woman. They came wanting to purchase some really rare medical plants from the greenhouses and they ran into my mother and me. Upon finding out she was due they offered to help her through labour claiming to be shamans. The Kazekage denied their request but my mother had befriended the young woman… she was always attracted to remedial healing," continued Temari her voice taking on a soft caring tone. " She knew she was going to die giving birth so she wanted to remain with her newly made friend for as long as possible, my father couldn't deny her request and aloud the two strangers to remain in the village for the occasion. It was in the greenhouses that he learned of their remarkable ability. Not only were they able to manipulate the elements at will but also claimed to be in touch with the spiritual realm. They gave up information on their powers easily and in exchange they obtained the plants they had come to get."

Akari swallowed hard barely daring to breathe. Could they have been members from her mother's tribe? Temari seemed to think so. It would make sense for them not to care about explaining their abilities to strangers; after all even with the knowledge they wouldn't be able to fully understand the depth of the techniques, Orochimaru had learnt that the hard way.

"So you see," continued the Sand Nin while opening her fan up, "I understand how to fight against you, your non chakra based attacks don't stand a chance against my chakra fueled wind techniques. What's more here we're only surrounded by soil; I won't go running into boulders as easily as that other kid did."

Akari clutched her hands into fists by her side before staring up at the older girl grinning. "So I've got no trump card huh? I'm more excited to fight you now than I was before, should be interesting to see what we can make out of this fight and I'll do you one better, I won't use any earth techniques on you, what d'you say?"

Genma sighed inwardly. 'Here she goes again' he thought solemnly. Every time Akari rose up to a challenge or a bet while playing card games she rarely failed to lose. It seemed she applied the same fiery spirit to a battle.

Temari smirked slightly while raising her fan behind her head. "Don't go regretting that decision now," she yelled across the field before her face fell in disbelief at her opponents actions. The brunette facing her had pulled out a single kunai from her holster and was pointing it in her general direction.

"That idiot, I told her weapon attacks wouldn't work against Temari, she should have realized that by now," grumbled Shikamaru glaring down at the field. "Oi Naruto what is your teammate playing at?"

"How should I know," he whined back clearly confused with the direction this battle was taking.

Was she mocking her? Akari hadn't been present for her battle against Tenten so maybe she didn't know weapons didn't affect her although she highly doubted it. "I should maybe let you know it won't work before you waste your time," she said not sure of what to do.

The brunette turned the kunai sideways so Temari could see the whole weapon, "Oh really?" she smirked when she loosened three fingers and let the explosive tag that had been hidden dangle from the sharp blades handle.

'Risky,' thought Genma, 'If either one of them sends explosive tags flying into the crowd I'm going to have to disqualify whoever did the throwing. Is she trying to keep Temari from flailing her fan all over the place?' He couldn't help but agree that the whole plan was something Akari would dare risk but there were so many ways for it to backfire it made him wonder if the risk was worth it.

'She's trying to stop me from using my wind Jutsu's,' growled Temari mentally as she quickly shut her fan with a snap while jumping out of the kunai's trajectory. 'I'll just blow the explosion back towards her.' The sharp object penetrated the ground as easily as if it were made of butter, the tag floating lightly in the air before falling limp by the knife's side.

The blonde skidded to a halt a few meters away from where she had previously been and raised her fan ready waiting for the single spark that would ignite the small piece of paper.

Nothing happened.

'A feint!' thought Temari whipping her head back up to the brunette, her eyes widening at the sight before her. The dust was swirling like mad around the girl who was positioned with her arms stretched out wide to her sides; a dozen kunai each with an explosive tag attached to them floated ominously all around her.

'Oh? Good strategy,' thought Genma to himself quite impressed.

"Seishinryoku," whispered Akari, her eyes glowing wildly under her fringe as she mentally sent one of the kunai flying straight at Temari.

The blonde jumped to the side avoiding the sharp blade and guarded herself from the tag however just like its predecessor it didn't ignite. Gritting her teeth she glared at her adversary before once again jumping out of the way of a sharp blade. 'She's keeping me on the defensive, probably only one of those kunai has a real explosive tag; I can't risk sending them flying all over the place though and she knows that.'

Akari's face was one of deep concentration as she started sending the kunai faster keeping the other kunoichi constantly on the move until there were no more blades left by her side.

Skidding to a halt Temari looked back at the girl whose eyes were back to their normal colour her own teal orbs running over the floor littered by shinning metal until her ears picked up a light fizzing noise. Turning abruptly to her left she watched puzzled as the tag stuck to a kunai that was embedded in the stadium wall sparkled before a huge wave of fire burst out shooting straight at her.

'Fire control huh?' she thought while opening up her fan wide and swinging it with a cry of "It's useless against my wind Jutsu!"

Just as was expected the heavily chakra imbued wind dissipated the fire in a matter of seconds kicking up yet another big cloud of soil and dust.

"TEMARI BEHIND YOU!" shouted out Kankurou.

'What?' thought Temari still stuck in mid swing. A cold chill ran down her back at the sudden pressure she could feel behind her.

"GO GET HER!" shouted Naruto excitedly jumping up and punching the air as his teammate appeared behind the blonde rapidly her hand shimmering with a thick blue light. Massed energy is what Takahiro had called it during the preliminary battles. It seemed that Akari had picked up a few tricks in their month training period.

'This is bad,' thought Temari registering the fact that the whole affair with the kunai's was to make her drop her guard and end up in a position that made it hard for her to defend herself.

Akari ran the few meters that separated the two girls and clenched her hand into a fist drawing it back to lash it forward with her final step. In the last second Temari clamped her fan shut and brought it down behind her at an awkward angle the metal plates vibrating heavily upon impact causing the two kunoichi to jump away from the offending object clutching their hands in pain waiting for the shock to recede from their nervous system.

"Argh dammit she was so close," whaled Naruto gripping the railing in frustration. Shikamaru had to admit he was enjoying the match. It was much more strategic than her battle against Takahiro which had just been a pig-headed fight between two hot heads.

'Damn it all, I still can't control the flow properly and when I'm moving my concentration wavers causing my technique to lose strength,' thought Akari clutching her right hand firmly while she stretched her fingers. 'Your amazing Hiro, to be able to maintain high amounts of energy at will.'

The aftershock had worn off of Temari and she glared over at the brunette. That had been an extremely close call. She wasn't supposed to wear herself out, they were still waiting for the signal to start their invasion on Konoha much to her displeasure and she needed her energy in case a fight ensued. 'But It's not like I can just walk away now,' she thought, her pride making her too stubborn to back down.

"Heh you did all of that and still didn't manage to land a hit," she taunted smirking lightly as she dusted herself down quickly. Her smirk fell at the brunettes reply.

"Who said I was aiming for you?"

Both their eyes fell upon the abandoned fan on the ground at the same time and in a fraction of a second Temari was lunging herself towards her weapon, snarling when it disappeared beneath the ground.

"You said you wouldn't use earth based techniques," she growled out trying not to sound like a three year old complaining.

"I said I wouldn't use them on you, you were the one to leave your fan lying around carelessly in-"she was cut off as the elder teen threw herself at her, both girls becoming a blurred clash of legs and arms as they resorted to Taijutsu based attacks.

'She's becoming reckless,' thought Akari while avoiding the onslaught of punches and high kicks aimed at her, she was after all the more experienced of the two in close range combat. The crowd were clearly enjoying themselves at this point the incessant flow of cat calls becoming hard to ignore. In a short moment of bad judgement her foot caught on one of the many kunai littering the arena floor giving Temari the boost she needed to kick her into the ground. Whipping out a kunai she pounced ready to stab the blue eyed girl below her.

Scrambling to collect her thoughts Akari did the first thing that came to mind and dragged the heavy fan towards her underground making it surface between her legs just in time for her to twist her thighs smashing the edge of the heavy weapon into Temari's face. The impact sent her rolling a few meters away, kunai lying forgotten where she had dropped it.

Both girls got up panting lightly, Temari with her hands clutched into tight fists her hair not as neat as it had been a while ago while Akari held her fan loosely between her hands. She had to hand it to the Suna Kunoichi; whipping around such a heavy weapon all day couldn't be easy.

"Give it back," growled the blonde practically livid. At her words Akari clutched the weapon with more force taking a step back with a set face clearly saying 'Come and get it.'

Temari took one step forward when Kankurou's voice broke out over the clamour shouting out her name in a warning tone. Stopping in her tracks she sighed heavily before raising her hand and looking over at Genma. "I give up."

No one bothered to mask their surprised expressions at the blonde's words. What was it with people giving up their matches today?

"Very well, winner Seishin Akari," said Genma biting down on his senbon wearily.

Temari stomped over to her opponent and held out her hand her face turned away from her, distraught plain as day in her eyes.

"Why?" questioned Akari, her voice shaking in disbelief. Temari growled lightly before snatching her weapon back and started walking away towards the arenas exit. The brunette turned to stare up at the waiting area balcony, worry evident on her young face. Temari had backed out of their fight after her teammate had called out to her. The fight had only just started getting heated up and Temari's put off attitude was enough proof that it had been a blow to her pride to give up like that. So then why was she walking away?

"You okay?" said Genma in a low voice now that he was standing next to her.

"Something isn't right Genma I can feel it, I don't know what it is but during this whole tournament I feel like I've constantly had to be looking over my shoulder for danger, and to make matters worse Sasuke still isn't here, god knows where Kakashi is and I'm tired of being left out of the loop all the time," she rambled finally voicing what had been bothering her all day.

Genma didn't bother answering her concerns as he watched Naruto land down in the arena dragging a squabbling Shikamaru by the scruff of his jacket to congratulate his teammate on her victory seeing as she didn't seem to be making her way back up to the waiting area. His eyes flickered over to the Hokage who was deep in conversation with the Kazekage and Raido. He hated to admit it but the uneasy feeling Akari had was mutual. The Sand Ninja had been acting extremely weird all day. Then there was the case of that Sound Nin found mauled to death a month ago and the fact that all Jounin and ANBU were on the lookout for Orochimaru. He could perfectly understand the young girls' uneasiness.

"They're giving Sasuke ten more minutes before being disqualified," whispered Raido in his ear before disappearing again. Pulling out a pocket watch Genma counted down the time the Uchiha had left to show up. Where the hell was Kakashi? He had to know the importance of the situation here. He glanced over at the three teens in the arena with him. Naruto was pacing nervously rambling to himself while Shikamaru and Akari watched in resigned silence. Just as he was about to name Gaara winner by default he saw Akari straighten up out of the corner of his eye and then he felt the chill breeze blow around them mingled with leaves and chakra. It seems like they had made it just in time.

Naruto was beaming at his friend's arrival while Kakashi conversed with Genma. Akari just glared at the older man refraining from whacking him round the head for acting so irresponsibly. She had heard Kakashi arrive more than felt it. Maybe it was because they had been in each other's company for so long now that they were naturally attuned to one another or maybe it had to do with the fact that she could hear his thoughts if she wanted to. Whatever the reason was they were somehow connected and she had heard him arrive seconds before he actually had.

She was happy both her missing teammates were in good conditions but that only left behind the sickening feeling of dread at the battle to come. She walked away from the arena accompanied by Naruto and Shikamaru who was mocking the blonde for letting him use the stairs, not once meeting Kakashi's eye.

She could easily ignore her companions chatter as they made their way up the stairs. In fact, it wasn't until they fell silent that she looked up. Standing at the end of the corridor were, two Grass Nin blocking off Gaara's path to the arena mumbling some nonsense about bets and needing him to give up his match. When the murderous intent flowed off of him in tidal waves all three of them found themselves glued to the spot and by the time they had got their wits about them again, battle noises could be heard from the field.

It seemed like an eternity had passed by the time Naruto spoke, "We need to get to Kakashi-sensei," he began his voice shaking slightly, "we have to tell him to cancel the match, that guy will end up killing Sasuke…" He trailed off before jumping to his feet a protesting Shikamaru following closely behind. Both turned when their female companion didn't get up.

"Oi Akari, you coming?" asked the shadow master.

"No, you go on ahead, there's something I want to check out first," she mumbled quietly not moving from the current stair she was still sitting on. Both boys looked at each other for a brief second before running off down the dark maze like corridors.

There was something definitely going on and she was determined to get to the bottom of it. Getting to her feet she made her way back to the waiting area. Shino was huddled in a corner alone while Temari and Kankurou were on the opposite end talking in low voices to each other. Neither of them had noticed her arrive. She walked over to where Shino stood chancing a quick glance down at the battlefield. Gaara seemed to have cocooned himself in a sand sphere which Sasuke was attempting to break through with constant kicks and punches to no avail.

Her concentration was broken when Shino bumped his elbow against hers making her look at him. He gave a brief side nod at Temari and Kankurou before carrying on watching the match as if there had been no interaction at all between them. She had understood his message as brief as it had been and focused on eavesdropping on the two foreigners, her eyes not once leaving the battlefield.

"This is bad," whispered Temari.

"He's completely forgotten the plan…I've not seen him this riled up for a while, we don't even know when we're going to receive the signal" said Kankurou gripping the railing in despair.

"Maybe we should just leave?" suggested Temari her voice unsteady.

'Plan? Signal? I knew something was wrong with those three,' thought Akari only vaguely taking into account the hand seals Sasuke was running through. She figured it was safe to assume now that Kankurou had forfeited his match to preserve his chakra or to keep his Jutsu's hidden and when Temari got hit during their match he called out to her warning her to not plunge on foolishly and get herself hurt. 'But what could this so called plan possibly involve?'

"Go," whispered Shino beside her, "leave them to me, you go look for your teammates."

She sighed and walking out of the waiting area calmly as if she hadn't heard a single thing. Once she was sure she was out of earshot she sped down the winding corridors to find Naruto and Kakashi. Her best guess was that they would be wherever Sakura was. She emerged into the crowded stalls just in time to see Sasuke plunge through Gaara's defense with his fist, a loud chirping sound filling the air.

She slowed down and gaped slightly at the scene. She knew that sound. It was a sound so familiar and yet terrifying at the same time. It was also a sound she strongly related to Kakashi. The piercing shriek of a thousand birds the Copy Nin's only original move; Chidori.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she scanned the area before locating the group of people she was looking for. A clash of orange, pink, yellow and grey standing near each other was easier to spot than it should have considering the amount of people that occupied the stadium. There was even some standing due to the lack of seats. Making her way over to her team it wasn't until she was a few meters away that she realized that Gai, Lee and Choji were part of the group too. Ino was the only one she had been expecting seeing as she had spotted her earlier on with her female teammate.

Naruto turned when he heard approaching footsteps and acknowledged her presence, "Ah Akari-chan." Was that jealousy she detected in his eyes? A while ago he had been all set to cancel Sasuke's match and now he was jealous of his teammate's new abilities. The rest of the gang turned upon hearing the blonde speak and saluted the brown haired girl.

Ignoring their kind words she pinned Kakashi with a worried look. "I need to-," she stopped abruptly when a cold feeling enveloped her making her feel sick to the core; Blood lust. It had come from the battlefield causing everyone to look back down at the fighting pair of males. Akari was panting slightly now cold sweat trickling down her face as a bolt of excitement ran up her spine but it didn't belong to her. It coiled and unwound itself like a snake before disappearing as quickly as it had come. Regaining her senses she found herself gripping her shoulder against the pain, or had she already been doing that for a while?

All proximate faces turned to stare at her again wondering what she was complaining about but only three pairs of eyes widened slightly in surprise at what they saw; Sakura, Kakashi and Gai. Only they knew about the mark that was on her neck. She glanced down at Sasuke who seemed to be wrecked with fear and confusion as Gaara stood in front of him no longer encapsulated in his sand dome. How had he not felt that? Was he that focused on his battle that he hadn't heard the sneering laugh ringing in his ears like she had?

"You okay?" asked Kakashi turning to fully evaluate her. She looked at him and winced at the calculating look he was giving her. She couldn't handle a conversation with him now, she didn't want him to see her in this sorry state and so she did the only thing that came to mind and teleported to the bathroom on the third floor. When she opened her eyes she was staring at her own reflection in the mirror in front of her.

Turning on the faucet she filled up the sink before splashing her face with a good dose of cold water. 'What are you doing you fool, I thought you were done with running away,' she chastised herself gripping the edge of the sink with both hands. Raising her head she stared at her face dripping with water now. The purple ring in her eyes was more prominent than usual for some reason. She sighed lightly peeling her shirt to the side to be able to see the curse mark that marred her left shoulder cursing Orochimaru for being a sick bastard in the process.

"_You can keep standing here feeling sorry for yourself or you can pull yourself together and stand up to the real problem here,"_ said her reflection in the mirror. Or at least that was what Akari could here in the back of her mind as she stared into pools of blue.

"I don't want them to see me like this… I don't want them to worry," she muttered.

Great now she was talking to herself.

"_They have a right to be worried, Sakura is your friend and Kakashi is the closest thing you have to a family right now" _she chastised back.

"He's done enough for me as it is, right now keeping Sasuke safe is the main priority" she said to herself sternly. "He can't be cleaning up behind me all the time."

"_Well then you know what to do."_

Nodding at her reflection she relished upon seeing her eyes go back to their usual blue, no more purple in them than was usual. Walking out the door she furrowed her brow at the commotion coming from down the hall when out of nowhere a Sound Nin rounded the corner and spotted her. Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of a kunai traveling towards her before her reflexes kicked in and she caught it mid-flight. Her attacker didn't know what had hit him as she teleported behind him in a matter of seconds and knocked him cold with the back of his blade. Not wasting another minute she ran towards the balcony the examinees had been occupying for the tournament. Gripping the railing as she looked out towards the stadium her eyes widened at the sight of Sound and Sand Nin fighting against the few Jounin that were in the area. She turned her head sharply to gaze up at the roof were the Hokage and Kazekage had been seated and noticed a barrier kept up by four Ninja. The fact that an ANBU squad were circling the barrier desperately made it clear the Hokage was in there somewhere and she was willing to bet Orochimaru was behind the whole scheme.

The sound of a blade being draw forced her attention behind her where a Sand Nin had lunged towards her. Jumping over the railing she tossed her last kunai with an explosive tag at her attacker. Not being able to avoid it in mid-air the explosion consumed him in a matter of seconds, but he hadn't been alone in the corridor and his companions soon made it out of the cloud of heat following her descent to the arena.

"Tch persistent bastards," she growled as she landed neatly on the ground before running off at a quick haste closely followed by her pursuers. They couldn't be any higher that Chunnin level the stronger ones seemed to be occupying the stadium benches and judging by the explosions she could hear throughout the village they were also busy wreaking havoc elsewhere.

She stopped abruptly at the sound of shurikens whipping through the air and turned, her eyes glowing, freezing the weapons mid-flight before re-directing them back to their owners. Two of the ninja became victims to her counterattack, the blades slicing their necks while the others managed to dodge or block the rest of the small projectiles.

Waiting for them now as the three remaining circled around her she glared as they simultaneously attacked. Avoiding the punch coming from her front she ducked in time to elbow the one coming from her left in the chin. Using his recoil to her advantage she massed as much energy as she could into her right hand in the short time frame and punched him in the face sending him flying backwards.

She hissed when one of the other two Nin grazed her side with a small katana like sword and quickly teleported behind both of them where she stomped her foot on the ground causing a boulder to raise which she then launched at them throwing them away from her.

Panting slightly and clutching her bleeding ribcage she cursed when the ground took the form of hands and gripped her ankles. 'An earth Jutsu?' she thought as she struggled against her bindings. Looking up she was met with six pairs of eyes and smirks. The group of both Sound and Sand Ninja surrounded her again each running their hands through seals. It looked like they didn't want to get close to their pray this time instead opting to take her out with long range attacks.

A breeze swirled around them for a few seconds, the air thick with chakra and something that smelled strangely like nutmeg before her attackers stopped forming seals and raised their hands to their heads where they then proceeded to snap their own necks falling into a crumpled mess on the ground.

"What the-?" said Akari highly perplexed before she felt movement close by. Grabbing a kunai from her holster and twisting her body to stab the newcomer she blinked at the strong arm that blocked her attack before looking up at his face and grinned. "Kakashi!"

"It looked like you needed a hand," he said channeling his electrical chakra through the ground making the restrains around his students ankles crumble to dust. He gave her his usual inverted U smile when she kicked away the soil, except this time the action was mimicked by his usually covered eye.

"What on earth did you do to them?"

"Meh a little Genjutsu sent through a light breeze. Got them through their sense of smell, figured you'd be unaffected" he grinned placing a hand on her head causing her to duck which enabled him to throw a shuriken at a fleeing enemy catching him in the back of the head.

More enemy Nin had jumped over the stadium walls and were making their way towards them. Coming to a silent agreement they went back to back and proceeded to take out the ninja one by one. Her wound was stinging although it was nothing she couldn't put up with as she ploughed on attack after attack remaining close to the Copy Nin at all times. A flash to her left caused her to look up where a Sand Nin had decided to attack them from the air.

"Kakashi," she yelled causing him to look up, eyes glaring at the formation of hand seals the lone ninja was running through when out of nowhere he gasped and became limp causing the fighting pair to jump out of the way as his body crumpled face first into the hard ground. Looking down at their attacker something shiny caught their attention and upon closer inspection they realized there was a senbon stuck neatly in the poor mans' neck.

"Couldn't let you have all the fun now could I?" asked a deep voice. They turned their heads to welcome the new party member with cheeky smirks. Even though they wouldn't admit it, the work out was proving to be entertaining.

"You're late Genma," said Akari saluting the approaching Jounin who was covered head to toe in dirt and dust.

"I really hope you don't put those in your mouth after you're done with them," Kakashi grimaced as he looked his companion up and down mentally checking for serious injuries.

"Don't be a fool," he replied calmly whipping out more senbon from his pouch and tossing them at the approaching ninja to his right. He placed himself so that Akari was in between them as he watched more enemies flood the stadium over the walls. "There's no end to them is there?"

"Akari you taking up the rear or backup?" asked Kakashi looking over his shoulder wearily.

She raised an eyebrow at his question turning her back on the two Jounin. "Backup of course, you know I'm not an effective solo fighter."

He gave her a somewhat sour look before returning his gaze to the approaching ninja. "Let's do this," he said receiving a brief nod from his two companions. Hands running through a series of seals he inhaled deeply, transforming his chakra into fire and spitting it outwards. "Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

The flames rushed forwards devouring all the leaves that crossed its path creating a barrier between the Sound/Sand combination and Kakashi's team. The brief diversion was all Genma needed to finish off with his own hand seals bringing up mud golems that enveloped the enemy from behind before hardening and pinning them in place.

With the flames gone, Kakashi clipped open one of his flak vest pockets and pulled out a scroll, opening it he tossed it up high in the air. "Akari!" he shouted before crouching down.

"Leave it to me," she said jumping onto his back and into the air where she grabbed the scroll and pushed chakra into it making the seal break and release a load of water which she piled into a neat sphere over her head. She had been keeping the ninja at their backs away from them with shurikens continuously bringing used ones back towards her with her Seishinryoku but now Genma had substituted her in the rear while she prepared to attack.

Three ninja had come up after their comrades and made their way around their currently stuck companions heading towards Kakashi with murderous intent. He proceeded to ignore them waiting for Akari's move.

"Eat this!" she yelled from above him sending the tidal wave of water crashing down onto the captured enemy making sure it covered every one of them. At the same instant Kakashi sped off into the center of the wave Chidori in hand setting the water alight with blue sparks effectively electrocuting all of the wet ninja.

Everything had happened so fast, the three ninja that had been heading towards Kakashi were forced to stop in their tracks and turn to stare after the Copy Nin confused completely forgetting the kunoichi in the air who landed on top of one of them and snapped their neck. Regaining their senses the other two glared and charged at her kunai's in hand. Cartwheeling backwards out of harm's way she smirked as Genma appeared to back her up with his trusty senbon, he stabbed them through their eyes moving out of the way as they slumped onto the ground dead.

A shuffling sound behind her made her twist to see one of the ninjas that had appeared to be dead running away. Sticking her hand in her pouch she cursed at the realization that she had completely used up her supply of kunai and shuriken. Running after the stray ninja figuring she could deal with a wounded enemy easily she turned her head confused through mid-jump at Kakashi's cry of "Akari don't!"

Out of nowhere and giving her no time to guard herself an ANBU clad ninja appeared kicking her in the chest sending her flying backwards. Gritting her teeth readying herself for the pain she opened her eyes surprised when instead of hitting the ground hard she found herself in Kakashi's arms, his feet skidding across the dirt after catching her, glaring daggers at the newcomer.

"That guy?" asked Genma letting his question hang in the air. All of a sudden the Sand trio's teacher Baki landed next to the cloaked individual. There was a heavy gash in his flak vest and small scratches littered his arms and face.

"Yeah he's with them," replied Kakashi letting Akari stand on her own again. 'But if Baki's here then…' he trailed off relieved when Gai landed next to him, clothes torn with specks of blood on them but apparently unharmed.

"Sorry Kakashi, he got away before I could stop him," explained the spandex clad ninja.

"No worries, we were just about finished here anyway," he replied calmly, eyes not once leaving the pair of ninja in front of him. The fighting around the village seemed to have died down somewhat if the lack of battle noises was anything to go by although whether they were currently winning or losing he couldn't tell. The group of ninja stared at each other for a while before Kakashi addressed the Sand Nin.

"So, what did Orochimaru have to offer Sunagakure to make you ally yourselves with the Sound? He asked gruffly.

"An enemy of the enemy is my friend," replied Baki casually, "the downfall of the leaf village was enough compensation."

"Suna and Konoha had an alliance, we weren't enemies," protested Genma to Akari's left. She was flicking her eyes from one party member to another as she listened to the conversation carefully, on guard in case a battle broke out.

"In politics, countries will _always_ be enemies you naïve fool. Bringing down the current biggest shinobi village would leave Suna in a very favorable position. Treaties and alliances are nothing more than icing on the cake people call peace."

"You're the naïve fool if you think Orochimaru won't double cross you," said Gai his hands balled into fists. The sound of the barrier being dispelled caught their attention making them all look up at the rooftop. A group of Sound ninja were fleeing the site, two of them carrying Orochimaru while the others took care of the ANBU squad that had attempted to pursue them. "The barrier…"

"It disappeared…" said Kakashi.

"Where is Hokage-sama?" asked Genma not really expecting a reply.

"Kakashi, they're making a move. Should we follow?" asked Gai preparing himself to run after the fleeing Nin.

"No, wait Gai…" said Kakashi holding out his arm to stop his comrade.

"Yes, if you make a move without knowing what happened up there you could fall into the enemies trap," said the masked ANBU directing all eyes back towards him.

"I already know that," spat the taijutsu master offended, "whether there is a trap or not, we cannot let the enemy run off freely. That is what Konoha shinobi are supposed to do."

"So, are you just going to watch…Kabuto?" asked Kakashi taking a step forward.

"Kabuto?" asked Akari looking up at her teacher slightly taken aback by the name he had spoken. A soft chuckle made her look back at the cloaked enemy in front of them, her eyes following his hand as he raised it towards his head and unclasped the mask revealing his face causing her eyes to widen.

"Seems like the cat is out of the bag," smirked the silver haired ninja eyes glinting wickedly behind his glasses as he stared Akari down. The reaction was instantaneous as a sharp pain pierced through her body. Clutching her cursed seal she fell to her knees screaming completely paralyzed as an onslaught of images flashed behind her eyes.

"_Nee Kabuto-san could you teach me medical ninjutsu?" asked a younger version of herself as she jumped up to sit on a medical bed._

_The grey haired man turned to look at her while slipping his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose. "That's not possible Akari-san; you don't have what it takes to become a medic Nin."_

"_Why not?" she whined._

"_Well for starters you don't possess the amount of chakra necessary to perform most of the techniques," he replied calmly._

"_But I have great chakra control, my teacher at the academy said so when I graduated."_

"_That's mainly because you don't have much to control. Over the years your body has automatically learned to dish out the exact amount of chakra you need for pretty much everything you use it for. You practically use it subconsciously and will carry on doing so with the more experience you gain," he explained looking at her crestfallen look. "What brought this on all of a sudden?"_

_She was silent for a while starring down at her hands before replying, "It's just… all the while I've been here, I feel like I've done nothing but hurt or kill people… I can't help but think that maybe if I had been taught how to heal instead of destroy…back then I could have saved them," she finished off her eyes seeing her teammates and parents dead bodies._

_Sighing he put down the medical instruments he had been cleaning and walked over to her. "Fine, I'll teach you the most basic technique there is if it makes you feel better, but I'm warning you, you won't be saving any lives with this," he said watching her eyes beam up at him._

Her hand gripped her shoulder harder as she pressed her other palm to her head the throbbing pain making her grit her teeth to prevent herself from screaming as the memories continued to wash over her.

"_Her bloodline limit is still useful right Kabuto?" hissed Orochimaru._

"_True, but she only inherited half of the potential the Seishin clan has to offer. If you take over her body… you'll find yourself dealing with the same trouble she puts up with to be able to use techniques." _

"… _I see no reason to keep her around then." _

Genma crouched down beside her, gripping her shaking shoulders firmly while Kakashi grit his teeth in anger, glaring at Kabuto who appeared to be enjoying the scene.

"Oi oi, is she alright?" asked Gai casting a sidelong glance at the girl on the floor as she cried out now holding herself up on one hand as Genma clutched the other which she was squeezing tightly trying to fight against the cursed mark.

_She was running like mad through a dense forest the loud footsteps behind her warning her, he was closing the distance between them. She yelped when her foot caught on a loose tree root sending her face first into the ground. Turning around in a panic she just had time to see the flash of light glowing off of a pair of glasses and a twisted smirk as a glowing green hand grabbed her around the face and then everything went black._

Genma's eyes widened slightly as she released his hand from the death grip she had had it in and clutched her face panting as the pain subsided. Catching her breath and organizing her scrambled memories she glared up at the young man she had trusted stupidly many years ago. "You!" she spat.

"Ah she remembers," said Kabuto cheerfully watching the girl get to her feet, her knees shaking slightly. "Took you long enough, I must say I was half expecting you to charge at me at any moment during the Chunnin exams."

"Liar," she muttered to which he chuckled.

"You're right who am I kidding I'm a brilliant medic Nin after all, although I must admit, due to the nature of your mind that barrier was extremely difficult to place. I believe I accidentally cut you off from a great portion of your memories all together even though they weren't related to Orochimaru-sama in any way."

Baki interrupted his companion nervously and ground out, "What should we do?" Akari completely ignored his existence still glaring at the double spy standing beside him.

"It was you wasn't it? My parents and teammates…you've been Orochimaru's double agent all this time!"

"We should retreat for now," Kabuto said answering Baki's question.

"Are you going to run away from me again?" asked Kakashi taking a few steps forward. The girl at his side shifted. He knew if they started a fight she'd jump into it without thinking twice which was why he was a bit weary of the situation. He didn't want her to become reckless.

"For now yes. If I show you my moves, you'll just end up copying them…but then again, it seems like you can't use that eye perfectly like the Uchiha clan," he said taunting the older man in front of him.

"Enough with the bullshit already just answer the damn question," growled Akari her voice a soft, angry hiss as she tried to control her volume. Kakashi gave her a stern look telling her silently to stay put.

Kabuto smiled while forming a seal with his hands whispering a quiet "who knows…" before disappearing in a puff of smoke taking Baki with him leaving the four remaining ninja to drown in their thoughts.

After a brief silence Kakashi turned to regard his three comrades. Gai was staring up and the rooftops worriedly while Genma flashed his eyes between him and the girl standing by him, his senbon swirling around his lips as he fumbled with it having nothing else to do, and then finally his gaze rested on his student. She was glaring daggers into the ground, fists clutched tightly at her side. He understood her rage, he too was livid except he was doing a better job at hiding his emotions from the rest.

"We should go check up on Hokage-sama," said Genma watching as ninja that had been in the imminent area started to flock around the rooftop were the battle had taken place. Kakashi nodded and watched his two comrades leave before looking back down at his eldest student.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled before he could say anything. Sighing he replaced his headband over his Sharingan eye and gave her a small pat on the head.

"What for?"

"Running away when I should have talked to you, letting Kabuto get in my head…I hated the idea of you seeing me like that…I thought maybe you'd stop seeing me as someone important and think I was just a hindrance…" she admitted a slight blush of embarrassment creeping onto her cheeks.

"Have I ever complained about looking after you?" asked Kakashi sternly.

"Constantly," she replied making him sweat drop. She smirked at his sour expression before looking up at the sky which was stained with dark clouds, whether they were natural or just smoke it was hard to tell although she could smell rain in the air.

"Have you ever thought of me as a surrogate parent?" he asked suddenly his hands in his pockets falling into his usual crouched stance that always made her feel at ease.

"Not really no," she admitted wondering where he was headed with the question. "Ever seen me as an adopted daughter?"

"Hell no," he replied. They looked at each other briefly before chuckling lightly. Oddly enough it was the best she had felt in quite a while considering she had been fighting for her life just minutes ago. The feeling was short livid as Kakashi eyed the rooftop where the rest of the Jounin and ANBU where.

"I know you've been on edge the last month, I should have done something more than just leave a small note," he admitted guiltily. She shook her head and stared up at him.

"It's cool, we're both ninja…I don't have any deluded ideas of what this kind of life entails, I figured if you went and got yourself killed I'd get to keep the flat to myself," she grinned turning around hands in her own pockets in an attempt to keep them warm against the biting chill.

He couldn't help the smirk that crept onto his face at her reply. It was easy to relax with her around. She was right when she said she wasn't deluded. She wasn't naïve like Naruto and Sakura still were which made it easy to converse naturally with her. Speaking of his other two students…

"You up for a mission?" he asked her. He felt her look over her shoulder at him before he carried on. "I sent the team and Shikamaru after Sasuke who was pursuing Gaara… think you can track them down?"

"I guess I can afford to use my chakra freely now," she muttered soaking her hand in the blood that coated her left ribcage from her previous battle before running through the hand seals to summon Kaito by her side.

'I'll leave it to you' was all she heard him mutter before he was gone leaving her to bring her teammates back home. Furry companion by her side she set off into Konoha's dense forests thanking the gods they had made it through this horrible day and praying that no other danger decided to creep up on them in the near future. She wasn't deluded… but she could always pray.

**A.N **Hope you enjoyed it. Battles are so much fun to think up, just a little hard to write in a way that's understandable :) Oh well. Be sure to keep an eye out for my upcoming new fanfics ;P


	11. The will to fight

**~The will to fight~**

A week had passed since the late third Hokage's funeral. It had rained that day, the sky a dark greyish blue coating the hidden leaf village in shadow. It had been the first autumn downpour they had had and since then there had been nothing but clear blue skies every day. All throughout the village construction noises could be heard as the town's people and ninja teamed up to reconstruct the damage caused by Orochimaru's invasion attempt.

Akari strolled down the streets in her casual attire smiling and waving to people she passed. Normally she'd be up on the rooftops helping but today she was on a grocery run. Since the Chunnin exam had been cancelled and because she was running low on food she had run out of reasons to keep putting off going to the market. Even though Kakashi was hardly at home due to the increasing number of missions being attended by the Chunnin and Jounin she figured she might as well fill the fridge for herself.

A clash of blonde and orange caught her attention and she proceeded to make her way over to the ramen stand. Stepping inside she saluted her teammate and sat down beside him patting him on the back when he choked on his noodles in his enthusiasm to say hello.

"Calm down idiot, wouldn't want you dying over a bowl of noodles now would we?" she joked to which he just chuckled back sheepishly.

"Oh Akari-san, you helping in the repairs too?" asked Teuchi happily walking out from the kitchen. She politely declined his offer for a bowl of food before responding.

"Perhaps this afternoon, right now I'm out shopping for food. What about you Naruto? Got any plans for today?"

He gave her one of the widest grins she had ever seen him wear before replying, "As a matter of fact, Ero-Sennin is taking me of town. He said he's going to carry on training me. When we get back I'm going to be stronger than Sasuke for sure, maybe even stronger than you."

"Don't go getting ahead of yourself there, I've still got it in me to take down a knucklehead like you," she teased. He laughed before wolfing down the remains of his lunch. Paying for his three bowls Akari went to accompany him out of the food stand when Teuchi called her back.

"Would you mind taking this to Giriko-kun seeing as you're going into the market, I'll invite you to a free bowl anytime you like," he asked handing her a take away box.

"Giriko-san the butcher right?" she asked picking up the box handed to her. Teuchi nodded calling her a lifesaver.

"The poor man had his house destroyed during the invasion and he's been working himself into the ground since then. I'm worried he's not eating properly."

"I'll be sure to get it to him then," she smiled before leaving the restaurant. Naruto was waiting for her outside. At some point Jiraiya had shown up and was scowling at the blonde boy. Looking up he grinned at the sight of her.

"How's it going kiddo?" asked the white haired sannin cheerily ignoring Naruto's discontented scowl.

"Can't complain, keeping busy helping here and there, the usual," she replied raising her eyebrow at the unusual way her teammate was acting. "I hear you heading out; don't go wasting all your time writing that junk of yours and be sure to train Naruto understood?"

"See I'm not the only one who calls you out on those perverted books of yours!" Muttered Naruto. Akari couldn't help but smirk at the older man's mumblings which sounded something remotely like "kids these days" and "no appreciation what so ever" as he turned and started walking away.

"So, why are you heading out of town to train? Not trying to weasel your way out of construction work are you?" asked the brunette following the pair of males, her voice changing from curious to suspicious in a matter of seconds.

"As a matter of fact, we are going on a very important mission which I should have you know, is top secret" replied Jiraiya puffing his chest out indignantly as if offended by the young girls accusations. Akari just glared up at the man who proceeded to ignore her. They had made it to the East gate of the village and most if not all neighbouring towns in the Land of Fire in that direction where mainly tourist oriented or well-known gambling towns. She decided to give Jiraiya the benefit of the doubt as she bid farewell to both of them and proceeded to the market where she spent most of the morning picking up an assortment of foods and delivering Giriko the butcher his bowl of ramen.

The sun was high in the sky by the time she was making her way back home with two crammed paper bags cradled in her arms. As she rounded a corner a familiar patch of black spiky hair some thirty meters ahead of her caught her eye making her yell out her teammates name.

Sasuke turned and stared at the approaching girl nodding slightly before falling into step with her. He took the paper bag she held out for him frowning slightly as she attempted to make small talk.

"So what brings you to this part of town?" She asked genuinely curious.

"I met up with Kakashi earlier on which was strange because he invited me to a dango store knowing full well I hate sweet food. Anyway our meeting was cut short by some rubbish excuse he made up on the spot. I was hoping to catch him in the Jounin estate," explained Sasuke adjusting the paper bag in his hands so its contents wouldn't fall out.

"Hmm strange, I wasn't aware he was around town," thought Akari, her face scrunching up in concentration. "Are you sure it was a dango store?"

"Yeah why?"

"It just doesn't seem like Kakashi to meet up with someone in a place like that, let alone invite them to eat with him," mumbled Akari under her breath. "He doesn't like sweet food either," she added at Sasuke's questioning look.

"Either way I figured if he isn't doing anything useful he might as well train me," replied the stoic Uchiha a light aggravation creeping into his voice.

"You know if you've got nothing "useful" to do you could help repair the village, I'm sure many people would be grateful for the extra pair of hands," she said frowning down at her teammate slightly. He may only be thirteen but he was growing taller every day. She was pretty sure by the time he was her age she'd have to be looking up at him.

"Hn."

They carried on the rest of the journey to the Jounin complex in awkward silence. Akari didn't really think it was her place to scold her teammate but she also didn't think it was right that Sasuke deemed helping the townspeople reconstruct the village as another lousy D-rank mission. Konoha was his home after all.

Opening the door to the Jounin estate she waited for her teammate to enter before following him in. Sasuke smirked lightly but said nothing which she was grateful for. It was no secret to her teammates where she lived at this point but it still opened up awkward conversations.

Half way up the third flight of stairs while fumbling with her keys to find the right one for the front door she decided to break the silence.

"If you really want to train with someone and if no one's available you could always invite me along… I mean I could do with sparring every now and the-" she was cut off by the hand held out in front of her. Glancing at her teammate and following the general direction he was looking in her eyes widened slightly to see the nearest door to them slightly ajar, the brass nameplate beside the door etched with the name Hatake Kakashi gleamed in the sunlight.

Realizing this wasn't a usual occurrence by the look his teammate had on her face both sprang into action in unison by flanking the door, the paper bags lying on the floor forgotten having been left there soundlessly.

Sasuke made to retrieve a kunai out of his holster when Akari lifted a hand signalling him to stop. She was straining her ears to make out any noises from the inside and after a while her shoulders relaxed slightly as she signalled him to follow her in.

Once in the hallway voices could be heard coming from the far end of the flat. Akari was slightly put off for more than one reason. The first; was that the voices where coming from Kakashi's bedroom a place she rarely entered without invitation. In fact rarely anyone was ever in that room without the Sharingan users consent. This led to the second thing bothering the blue eyed girl. Of all the voices she recognized coming from the room her roommates was not one of them. Deciding she should at least go and find out what was going on she walked down the hallway closely followed by her brooding teammate.

Entering the room her eyes swept over the faces of Kurenai, Gai and Asuma before stopping on the unconscious figure of Kakashi laying on his bed. She heard Sasuke gasp slightly before giving every individual an accusing glare as if it were their fault his teacher was in his current condition.

"Why the hell are there so many Jounin here? And what happened to Kakashi huh?" he snarled aggressively. Akari knew this was her teammate's way of proving that he did really care for every member on his team and had the circumstances been different she would have inwardly cringed at the way he disregarded ranks when speaking to his superiors so coldly. However right now she was trying hard to bottle down the worry and anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach.

"Nothing, nothing," began Gai not meeting Akari's eyes, "he just wasn't feeling well so we brought him home." It was a poorly manufactured lie.

"_But why would he lie?"_ thought Akari, her brow furrowing as she glanced briefly at each Jounin. _"He knows Kakashi is my roommate and that I was bound to find out the truth…"_

The answer to her question came bursting through the door a split second later in the form of another Konoha Jounin who always donned sunglasses and went by the name of Aoba.

"Is it true?" he asked slightly out of breath as every individual in the room turned to stare at him, "is it true that Uchiha Itachi has returned and is after Naruto?"

For a brief second everyone just stared shocked at Aoba, then Kurenai face palmed and mutter "idiot" under her breath while Gai stood up and berated the spectacled ninja. Akari was about to ask what the hell was going on when out of nowhere an intense chakra filled with hatred and fear washed over her making her slightly nauseous. It took her longer than it should have to realize the chakra had belonged to her teammate and by the time she had he had already run out of the flat at an alarming speed.

"Someone had better stop him," muttered Asuma standing up straight.

"Will someone tell me what is going on? Who is Uchiha Itachi and what has he got to do with Naruto?" growled Akari not bothering to be polite anymore. The four Jounin glanced at one another briefly as if wondering whether or not it was a good idea to get her involved. She scowled impatiently before sighing heavily to calm herself down, "I'm going after Sasuke either way, I just want to know what kind of dangers I could run into…especially if it's because of those dangers that Kakashi is in that state."

Sighing Gai turned to regard her fully before answering, "Itachi is an S-class criminal who also happens to be Sasuke's brother. He murdered all of his family at the age of thirteen and has been on the run since then."

Akari couldn't help her eyes widening slightly in shock. For someone to be ranked an S-class criminal at the age of thirteen was highly unusual. She knew Kakashi had been a prodigy kid ranking Jounin at the same age and had at some point from then become known as the Copy ninja. Itachi however was a pure blooded member of the Uchiha clan. He was someone who was capable of using the Sharingan to its full potential. It struck her then how Kakashi and her were similar in the way that neither of them were pure blood members of the Kekkei Genkai they possessed.

"_It just never occurred to me…because he is strong…he doesn't let the restrictions of the Sharingan bother him even if it means harming himself as long as he can protect his comrades…"_ she thought to herself sadly while observing his unconscious form the guilt of not being stronger building up inside her.

"Akari, track Sasuke down and bring him back, whatever happens you are not to confront Itachi head on understood?" asked the spandex clad ninja observing her. "I'm going to the Hokage's office to see if anyone knows of Naruto's whereabouts and send out a rescue team," he said to the others.

Remembering her teammate was the objective of an S-class criminal had the adrenalin pumping through her veins furiously. Sasuke had gone to aid their friend and she wasn't going to be caught not doing anything. Dashing out the door she jumped over the railing in the corridor pumping chakra into her arms and legs to break the three story fall. Landing gracefully on all fours she pushed herself of the ground hard and ran, jumping onto the roof tops towards her blonde teammate's house.

If Sasuke was looking for him apart from the ramen stand his house would be the first place he would look. Akari had the upper hand of knowing where to go and soon enough she caught Sasuke yelling at an extremely confused Sakura who was exiting Naruto's apartment.

She called out the black haired boys name causing both teenagers to turn and stare at her. His usually unreadable onyx eyes were swimming with despair, worry and anger. "He's not in… if Itachi finds him he'll kill him," he began ranting in broken pants.

"Kill who, Naruto?" asked Sakura her worried face glancing from Sasuke to Akari searching for answers.

"I know. Jiraiya took him out of town to train him. They went east. If they are going stop anywhere today it'll be in Otafuku town…if we run we can make it there in quarter of an hour," she informed all thoughts of keeping Sasuke away from his brother leaving her mind. She couldn't lie to her teammate not with the amount of worry he was in and if he was going to save their friend then she would be there to back him up.

Sasuke nodded gratefully not bothering to ask how she knew the whereabouts of their blonde companion. They both turned and ran along the corridor only briefly stopping when Sakura called after them.

"Wait why is Naruto being targeted?"

"Sakura do me a favour and get a medic team dispatched to Kakashi's place, with all the commotion I don't think anyone has done it yet," yelled Akari preparing to jump over the railing onto the streets below.

"But wait if Naruto is in danger I want…" she began before being cut off by the very impatient Uchiha.

"Sakura just stay out of this and do what you are told!"

With a last apologetic glace toward the pink haired girl Akari jumped over the balcony after Sasuke both of them breaking into a fast pace jumping over the rooftops heading towards the East gate of the village.

XxX

Otafuku town was a small outpost town around twelve kilometres away from Konoha. At a walking pace it took roughly two and a half hours to get from one destination to the next. However at the breath-taking speed both Genin had been running at they had made the journey in just under eighteen minutes. Gripping onto the railing that led down to the town they both looked around fruitlessly while catching their breath.

"There are too many colours… what kind of place is this? It looks like a never ending theme park," grumbled Sasuke impatiently scanning the dense crowds for some sign of their orange clad teammate.

"It's basically a gambling town, people come here to spend money and have a good time," replied Akari. She had been hoping they would run into Jiraiya and Naruto on the way here seeing as they didn't know for sure if they would actually be stopping in Otafuku. "Listen, we should split up, you take the right side of town and I'll take the left. Make sure to check in every onsen, bar, brothel and food stand, don't ask," she added seeing the highly befuddled face of her friend at the mention of the word brothel. "He's with Jiraiya, he's a really tall man with long spiky white hair he's virtually impossible to miss."

Sasuke nodded and began running in the direction she had pointed him in when her call had him turning to look at her impatiently. "What?" he growled.

"Just don't do anything rash understand? I won't be able to back you up if you do." She said sternly. His scowl and lack of an answer worried her, as he turned around ignoring her but that was why she had given him the right side of town. While he knew who he was looking for she was lucky to know them both personally. The right side of town was comprised of mainly food stands and game parlours a place where Jiraiya wouldn't bother to visit unless he had already checked into a hotel and even then, the left side of town had more appealing attractions to the old sage such as the onsens, brothels and in case they hadn't checked in yet, loads of hotels and inns. Akari knew this from experience. The last time she had been here was on a C-rank mission months ago the day she had first met Team 7.

Making quick work of the onsens and making sure to scan the food stands while running she began interrogating the receptionist's at full speed of every inn and hotel she ran into. She had to find them before Sasuke, she just prayed Sasuke didn't find Itachi before running into Naruto. With no friends to anchor him down he would charge into a fight stupidly. The hatred filled chakra she had felt emanating off of him earlier confirmed that. Ignoring the disheartening feeling she felt every time she was told that Naruto and Jiraiya hadn't been seen she ploughed on into another inn praying that this one had to be the one they were staying in.

"Excuse me, have a tall white haired man and young blonde boy booked in here today?" she asked quickly.

"I'm sorry, miss I couldn't really say, I've just changed shift…" began the young receptionist before she jumped at being yelled at.

"Well find out, this is really important," spat Akari. She didn't have time for formalities. She had already cleared the right side of the town and any minute now she was expecting to run into Sasuke who should also be finishing his side.

"_Unless he's already found them…"_ she thought worriedly. If he had found them were they alright? Or would Itachi be there as well?

A loud explosion had her whipping around and running back out onto the crowd filled streets who were all looking up worriedly at the fourth floor of a hotel a couple of buildings away. Said building now had a huge hole in the side of it with clouds of dust swirling around it.

She ran in through the main door of the hotel taking in the looks of fear of the staff and clients that were in the reception area. "No stop!" she yelled effectively stopping the security guards who were about to run up the stairs to see what the commotion was about.

"If there is anyone staying on the fourth floor I want you to call them and tell them to stay as far away from their doors as possible, under no circumstances are they to leave their rooms. Everyone else on the floors below is to be evacuated and send a telegram to the Hokage's office informing him that Uchiha Itachi is here, understood?" she said sternly to the pale faced receptionist who nodded furiously before picking up the phone. With the rest of the staff also jumping into action upon hearing her words she ran up the length of the stairs calmly informing the clients who were on their way down to stick to the right hand side of the stairs while jumping the steps three at a time.

Making it onto the fourth floor she didn't need to strain her ears to make out the voices that were talking around the corner. One of them belonged to Jiraiya which relieved her slightly. He was talking to voices she didn't know. Rounding the corner making her presence known she was pleased to see Naruto being shielded by one of Jiraiya's toads. Sasuke on the other hand was sprawled on the floor at the feet of a man she presumed to be Itachi mainly because of the huge resemblance between them.

The other man who resembled a shark turned his head slightly to regard her. "They just keep turning up like flies," he smirked. Just then the summoned toad disappeared in a puff of smoke all eyes turning to the sage master.

"I won't let you take Naruto," he said firmly. "I'm going to take care of both of you right…"

"D-don't interfere," muttered Sasuke getting to his feet swaying lightly on the spot. It didn't take a genius to see he was hurt. "The only person who's going to kill him is me!"

"Sasuke don't be an idiot you can't take him head on," shouted Akari down the hall.

"Hn, you should listen to your friends Sasuke. I'm not interested in you right now," muttered the older Uchiha turning his back on his younger brother.

"Well then get interested," shouted Sasuke aiming a punch with his right hand at Itachi. In the brief second it took Akari to run a few steps forward to try and stop her teammate she suddenly found herself grabbing his limp figure as he was kicked in her direction hard. Feet skidding across the tiled floor she held on to him hoping to keep him somewhat standing.

"That's enough!" shouted Naruto preparing to jump into the battle stopping in his tracks when his friend called out to him.

"Don't meddle in other people's business Naruto!"

Realizing what Sasuke was trying to do Akari grabbed him around the arms immobilizing him. "Damn it Sasuke I told you not to do anything rash," she scowled at the pressure of having to restrain him.

"Let me go," he growled, his Sharingan eyes still starring daggers at his brother.

"I can't let you do that Sasuke, I told you I won't be able to back you-ow" she released him abruptly grabbing her nose in pain instinctively. The jerk had gone and head-butted her in the face. Once free he ran as fast as he could down the corridor. He was like a bull charging towards a red flag, no other cares in the world, not even his own safety. No sooner had he made it to his brother than was he flying back towards her this time however the force he came with was much stronger then the first time and she found herself involuntarily breaking the hit between him and the wall. Small lights jumped in front of her eyes as she was momentarily dazed by the impact.

"_Exactly how hard did he hit him?"_ she thought feeling Sasuke's trembling form in her arms. It was clear now that his left arm was broken and had he been the one to be thrown against the wall he would probably have a couple of cracked ribs too. He was in no condition to fight. Not with his hatred blinding him like this.

"I'm not finished yet…this is still my fight," she heard him mutter weakly.

"Fine," Itachi muttered slowly making his way down the hall towards them.

Akari's eyes widened shocked. They were in a terrible situation right now. _"Damn it this is why I told him not to do anything stupid…there is nothing I can do to help…I can't fight on my own… I can't…"_ she stopped herself abruptly suddenly feeling slightly confused as an onslaught of memories came crashing back to her.

_"I know Team 7 is only a recently formed team but my teammates are talented in their own way and I think with Kakashi-san and myself on the team for backup experience on top of the fact that we __are__ a five man cell team I think we could easily cope with a C-rank mission."_

"_It's precisely because I have an array of techniques that it's going to be difficult. None of my attacks are really harmful, on a team I specialize on being a backup for the rest of my team members who have much more damaging techniques than mine… I'm not really cut out to be a solo fighter but that doesn't mean I won't give it my all."_

"_At what point in time…" _she started thinking panic stricken taking little notice of each resounding step Itachi took closer to them.

"_Akari you taking up the rear or backup?" asked Kakashi looking over his shoulder wearily._

_She raised an eyebrow at his question turning her back on the two Jounin. "Backup of course, you know I'm not an effective solo fighter."_

_He gave her a somewhat sour look before returning his gaze to the approaching ninja. "Let's do this," he said receiving a brief nod from his two companions._

She couldn't help remembering in minute detail every instance she had repeated the same words over and over again. _"When exactly did it become an excuse? A reason to stop fighting?" _And just as the eldest Uchiha was a few paces away from them a sense of total calm and relief washed over her. Acting on instinct she set her features into a determined look before placing Sasuke gently against the wall and turning to stand between the two brothers.

Itachi stopped in his tracks and stared into the depth of her purplish blue eyes. The time he had spent on the move and his brief period in ANBU gave him the knowledge to know who he was up against.

"You're a member of the Seishin clan," he stated matter of factly. "You have nothing to do with this, I'd suggest you move out of the way but I doubt you will listen to me."

"I can't let you harm my teammates anymore," she replied calmly.

She was determined that much he could tell. The lack of fear in her eyes was surprising. What exactly was she aiming to achieve? He sighed lightly closing his eyes. He was tired but he still had one more thing to do before they could leave.

"Very well," he muttered opening his eyes, tomoes swirling changing shape as he pierced her with the power of his Mangekyo Sharingan.

Akari felt a sudden overpowering feeling sweep over her making her clammy and feverish. If she had to describe the push she had suddenly felt in her head she would say it was the equivalent of getting hit in the face with a brick. Nauseated and shaking slightly she was too slow on the uptake when Sasuke sidestepped her and attacked his brother. The exchange of blows was pretty much one sided and at some point Itachi had managed to shove her against the wall out of the way.

She watched extremely dazed as Sasuke received hit after hit and then he went extremely still before bursting out screaming as his brother whispered cursed words in his ears. She wanted to do something but found the ringing in her ears to be unbearable. Swaying she slid down the edge of the wall breathing heavily. And then as abruptly as it had all started it stopped as the tables were turned and both criminals were force to flee.

Naruto and Jiraiya were inspecting the huge hole the Akatsuki members had created in order to escape the Sanin's technique and soon after Naruto was fussing over Sasuke's unconscious body while the white haired man approached her.

"You okay kiddo?" he asked gently handing her a tissue. After her questioning gaze at the object he added, "Your ear is bleeding."

True to his words upon inspection it seemed her right eardrum had burst, red hot liquid gushing out of it. At least that explained her sense of vertigo.

"Did he trap you in a Genjutsu?" he asked worriedly wondering if she was mentally stable and understanding him.

Now that she was more aware of having a burst eardrum she realized she was hearing him slightly muffled. "No that's the thing, I'm immune to Genjutsu because of my Kekkei Genkai but whatever he did still rendered me useless. It felt horrible, I could feel him trying to penetrate my mind so forcefully…I can't imagine what he made Sasuke see," she mumbled looking over at her teammate concern evident on her face.

Suddenly out of nowhere Gai burst forth effectively kicking a bewildered Jiraiya in the face. As the two Jounin conversed she found herself tuning out their voices.

"_I'm immune to Genjutsu…I made sure of that by training with Kakashi arduously every day when I got back and yet… I didn't even see anything and his technique had this effect on me. Who exactly is he?"_ she thought clenching her fists in despair.

"I want you to take Sasuke back to Konoha to the hospital I'm afraid he may have been tampered with psychologically," said Jiraiya to the Taijutsu master.

"It's probably the same thing he got Kakashi with. We don't know when or if he will wake up," he replied trailing off sadly. Ignoring Naruto's cry of surprise he continued. "It's times like these I wish we still had _her_ around."

After a brief pause Jiraiya turned to regard them all. "That's why we are going looking for her."

The surprise that ran around the group at his words was instantaneous as they all stared at him grinning at them.

"You mean…" stammered Gai.

"Yes. Another legendary Sannin like me who is known as the healing specialist and master of slugs the legendary gambler Lady Tsunade."

XxX

It was late afternoon by the time Akari was trudging up the three flights of stairs to her flat. She had walked back from Otafuku town with Gai whom she tuned out for the most part not really interested in anything to do with the spring of youth.

She was still concerned with the fact that she didn't make up a good solo fighter and now that she really realized what the words she had repeated to herself over and over again meant it was bugging her immensely. While it was true her array of techniques did prove useful to the team on a normal level it rendered her useless if her teammates could fend for themselves on their own. It made her even more useless if they couldn't fend for themselves and she was too weak to help with the opponent they were dealing with.

So the question now was: where did this leave her? She couldn't perform Genjutsu or Medic Ninjutsu to help her team so that instantly crossed supporting the team as a backbone off the list. She didn't have the strong techniques Kakashi and Sasuke had to damage opponents with either and because she was a half-blood the more she used her clans techniques the weaker she got so she couldn't even compete with Naruto stamina wise. To make matters worse she wasn't even as smart as Sakura.

She was forced to squeeze herself flat against the wall on the third floor landing as a group of medics carried Kakashi down the stairs on a stretcher. Gaping aghast at the situation she turned when she heard a male voice behind her.

"There you are, I just got back from a mission and heard the news…are you okay?" asked Genma clicking his senbon in his teeth noticing the patch of blood on her shoulder.

"Yeah, just a burst eardrum I've got to go and get fixed, I just wanted to make sure everything was in order here before going to the hospital. You know I sent a message for a medic team to come here hours ago," she said glaring down at the retreating figures angrily.

"Don't take it the wrong way. Ever since the invasion the hospital has been full of patients, ninja and civilians alike. It has taken a while to be able to get a room ready for him," replied the older man. "I put away the groceries by the way, I figured they were yours," he added.

Akari's face fell guiltily. Of course the hospital was full. Many people were hurt after Orochimaru's invasion attempt. Sighing she thanked the Jounin before closing the door to her flat and locking it.

"It's your birthday in four days isn't it?" he asked in an attempt to distract the young kunoichi. The flicker of surprise on her face let him know he was successful. "What are you going to do?"

She remained silent for a while thinking. With the Chunnin exams and the invasion and constantly helping with the reconstruction of the village her rapidly approaching birthday had been swept out of her mind. On the eighth of November she would turn fifteen years of age becoming a legal adult in the Shinobi system. It was also the time when she could freely leave Kakashi's household and go and live on her own and yet now that it was right around the corner the prospect didn't have the appeal it used to.

"I think…"she began choosing her words carefully staring at the now closed door determinedly avoiding Genma's eyes. "I think I'll stick around for a while…Kakashi has looked after me basically since I was twelve. He helped me get back on the mission roaster early… heck if it wasn't for him I don't even think I'd still be able to be a kunoichi, and now…now he's hurt possibly in a coma and I want to be here for him…at least until he gets better. I'm not going to abandon him after everything he's done for me.

Genma smirked before turning his back and making his way towards the stairs leading up to the fourth floor. "Go get that ear checked out before it gets worse," he said lazily as he walked away. _"You got yourself some really great students Kakashi,"_ he thought to himself.

XxX

She walked out into the corridor the smell of disinfectant heavy in the air as she thanked the medic who had attended her. The sun was setting now casting dark shadows all down the hospital corridors bathing the walls a warm orange. Just as she was about to make her way to the lift a noise down the hall had her turning to check out the source of the sound.

Gai was exiting a hospital room. To be more precise he was being shoved out by a nurse who was claiming his student needed to rest and that he could visit him again tomorrow.

"Don't worry Lee, your youthful Sensei will be here tomorrow to help you out with your exercises!" he grinned giving a thumbs up to the closing door Lee was presumably in bed behind. It was then that an idea struck Akari. Just because she was of little use to her team now didn't mean it had to stay that way. In fact now that she knew what the problem was she was going to put an end to it once and for all. Turning in the opposite direction she called down the hall allowing the tired looking nurse to retreat from Gai's insistent gratitude.

"Gai-Sensei!"

He turned perplexed as to who had called him and beamed upon seeing the girl approach him. "Ah if it isn't Kakashi's youthful student. How's your ear? Sasuke got placed into a long term ward along with Kakashi but you don't need to worry they will both be looked after excellently. Why, all the time Lee's been here he…"

"It's fine thanks," she said cutting him off before he could start rambling. "Listen I was wondering…well, with Kakashi being in a coma and…well I don't really know anyone else I can ask for help with this…I was wondering if you would help me become stronger in Taijutsu."

He stared at her bemused for a while before speaking, "While I am pleased you have decided to take the wonderful route of Taijutsu I must ask what brought this on?"

"My techniques are no good to anyone if I myself don't get stronger. I need to increase my resistance and stamina to be able to fight on my own and to also not fall behind my teammates. I believe Taijutsu is the best option I can train. It suits me because I have always been classified as a mid to close range fighter. I want my close range to be better than it is now," she answered truthfully.

She had thought about it carefully on her way to the hospital. When she first started training with Kakashi he always complimented her on her flexibility and the amount of strength she could pack into her kicks. If she could refine her combat skills she could also become stronger with her clans technique and use her nature bending to back up her teammates. She was tired of being left on the side-lines.

Gai looked slightly crestfallen as he replied, "You see Akari… I would love to help a fellow lover of the martial arts but…ever since the invasion the Chunnin and Jounin are constantly being sent out on missions…and when I'm not out I'm here helping Lee get better."

Akari sighed lightly in resignation her shoulders drooping slightly. "It's okay, I understand." Living with a Jounin really did help her understand just how occupied they were being kept. The village had to keep up appearances after all so they couldn't afford to let the amount of missions coming in dwindle.

"If it's Taijutsu you want to brush up on I can help you," said a calm masculine voice behind her causing them both to look at the boy approaching them. Akari couldn't mask the surprise that adorned her face.


End file.
